XCOM: Remnant v2
by Punner
Summary: Remnant has been lost to ADVENT and their alien overlords with Ruby awaking on their capital world, Earth. She joins XCOM in a attempt to find out what happened to her friends as well as her world, but the clock is ticking as the Avatar Project nears completion.
1. Chapter 1: This isn't Vale

"Oww," Ruby Rose moaned as she crawled out of a male adult sized container and out into a thunderous storm raining pencil-tipped droplets. Pain was all over her like she was thrown into a blender and said blender was blending a smoothie.. The worst of it was in the back of her skull as if a device was inserted into her brain. However, as she got out the pain began to subside, allowing Ruby's mind to focus on what was going on.

The Huntress stood up on leaded legs and barely had the strength to keep upright, but Ruby forced herself to remain standing. She took baby steps, feeling the mud shift underneath her weight and looked around to get a view on her surroundings.

To her right was a black train boxcar that had seen better days. It was derailed, partially devoured by a ditch, and bullet-sized holes painted every inch of it. The boxcar's contents, human-sized 'pods' and black boxes, were spilled across autumn grass. Looking at the container she just crawled out of, it was a pod just like the others but grass-green goo pooled around it in comparison with the same grass-green goo that was inside the pod and not outside.

Ruby then looked at herself and let out a small eep. The green goo and mud were caked on her (mostly) naked pale body. Two white clothed pieces were the only things that guarded her modesty. A cool wind blew from the forested left causing her to shiver, but that was a minor concern when compared to what was happening right now, or, well, the assessment of what was happening right now.

As the pains in her body started to subside, Ruby wondered where she was and who took her clothes. More importantly where was everybody? Last she remembered 'Everybody' was at the Vytal Tournament, Vale, and last she remembered of that place was that it was under attacked by Grimm and The White Fang.

Suddenly, she felt an intense pain crawling up her stomach and bad thoughts going through her head.

Penny, Pyrrha, Ozpin, Beacon… all gone. Every single one dead. Yang had also given up. Weiss had been taken back to Atlas by her father to 'safety'. Blake ran off to who knows where and why. She and JNR attempted to head to Mistrial, but were overwhelmed by ancient Grimm. Ruby placed a shaky hand on a scar that was located on her left cheek. She barely remembered what happened back there, and another question aroused in her head, how long has time past since then? Ruby remembered that she got pinned down by an Ursa. It just kept her down instead of killing her and she was forced to painfully watch as the remaining of Team JNPR were drowned in a sea of dark beasts. Shortly after that, a green blob smashed into the ground followed by a group of what she presumed to be soldiers.

Ruby stumbled about and readied herself to collapse. The emotional strain was simply too much, wrapping around and crushing her with all of its despairing might. Sorrowful tears welted up, but a hopeful thought crossed her mind. Maybe JNR were alive! Had the androgynous, facet-helmeted person stabilized them as well?

Ruby vowed in her head to find them and reunite the now-disbanded Team RWBY. Then they would defeat Cinder and her goons.

Then a thought came to her mind. If she was in a pod then surely there were others trapped! And that scared her a little. Why were they in a pod filled with a green liquid, for some horrible genetic experiment or food like in a Sci-Fi movie? Ruby slowly moved to the nearest one and pressed a hand onto the cool glass while trying to peer through the thick substance.

She searched for anything that might have related to the people she was familiar with. Weiss's left eye scar, Blake's cat ears, or Yang's… missing arm. She wasn't sure if they were captured as well and hopefully they weren't as she overheard plans of world domination before going unconscious. The green in the goo was so dense that all Ruby saw was a naked silhouette of a person. She then took a step back, wondering how to open it and a violent light blinked from the left. Turning her head, she saw a keypad with the light on the upper right and foreign symbols on the buttons. Ruby did the first thing that came to her mind, she leaped in front of it and arbitrarily pressed any symbol that her finger could grasp.

Ruby then realized how stupid it was when the the screen on the keypad started to violently blink an ominous red. Guess it was a wrong password.

" _Capture or terminate!"_ The voice of a grizzled man yelled from the right, on the outside of the container of course.

That was fast.

And as Ruby turned to run to the forest, gunfire shrieked and crimson stars zoomed by. This prompted her to use her Semblance and as Aura channeled into her legs, but Ruby felt a hot metal piece bounce off of her back, draining a good deal of Aura. The hot metal piece flew at her at what seemed like a really fast velocity which served to send her flying towards the woods leaving behind a trail of rose petals. She put at least eleven meters between her and whoever was shooting.

As soon as Ruby's feet dug into the mud, she took off running with her mind on overdrive, absorbing any information that might help with her escape. The attackers chased after her, shooting and shouting while Ruby refused to look back in fear of receiving a star-shaped projectile to the face. Just one had managed to take off nearly a quarter of Aura. Ruby could tell by the diminished warmth she felt. She also wished she had her sweetheart, the attackers would fall just as quick as the mobsters she took down at From Dusk till Dawn shop, a long time ago. Probably.

And for what seemed like hours, Ruby played a game of cat and mouse dodging or hiding from patrols. Occasionally one would poke around a bush or look up at a tree branch where she hid and as soon as she was found, it or he alerted its or his friends. Ruby always got away before the rest came, leaving a confused trooper pondering why there was a bunch of rose petals in a forest, on a tree branch or a bush

She also caught glimpses of her pursuers' appearances. For whatever reason, they wore all black making it easy for Ruby to distinguish who was a soldier and who wasn't. Somehow they reminded her of Atlas soldiers, just add more armor padding and evil. Even their weapons seemed like a twisted version of the Atlas Versatile Assault Rifle, their standard military issued rifle, though Ruby did admire it for being powerful enough to eat up Aura. If only they had that kind of firepower against the Grimm then maybe Beacon would have been saved.

As Ruby continued the evading, she noticed there was a steady decrease of patrols. At first it seemed she constantly ran into a group of four or five, but now, with the storm waning and the sunrays shining through the eastern horizon, there was a long period between groups which now only had maybe two or three. There were also the screams of gunfire and thunderous explosions echoing near where the train was.

Ruby, sitting on a branch, thought about heading back to the train. Maybe her team or her other friends were there! Or it could be rebels trying to defeat whoever these people are.

Whatever the case, Ruby decided against her better judgement and jumped down from the branch and hurried to the sounds of distant combat. During her journey, a lull appeared and as she got closer, she felt her muscles tense up in hope and fear. She hoped she at least came across some friendly faces, but fearful that the fight ended in her pursuers' victory and they would resume the chase once more.

As she emerged from the forest onto a semi-intact section of the train, Ruby thought she came across the wrong area. There were no signs of a firefight aside from the fresh scent of gunpowder though a few fires still crackled near a on rails boxcar, but that could have been the result of a engine exploding.

She cautiously maneuvered to the boxcar to search it for supplies. Trying not to be dead prevented her from attempting such a thing because of the seemingly omnipresent patrols.

When Ruby raised both arms to pull the handle, the door hissed opened and she jumped back in fearful surprise. Everything slowed to a turtle's crawl as a dark skinned male leaped back as well, brown eyes widening. Giant, gloved hands lifted up a white rifle and it spewed out more of the dreaded red stars, or hot-pieces-of-metal-that-weren't-bullets-and-hurt-a-lot-more as she called it.

Instinctively, Ruby threw herself down, the projectiles whizzing just above her, and mud married her face as her face planted itself into the ground.

"Oh shit! You alright?!" The man asked, panic and concern in his voice.

Ruby lifted her head up and groaned. The mud was much harder than she thought, but other than that she nodded.

"Sorry! Thought you were ADVENT." the man said as he went by her side and helped her up.

"ADVENT?" Ruby repeated. Were they the ones who tried killing her?

"You don't know who ADVENT is?"

Before Ruby could reply, a voice yelled out, "Shooting little girls now are we Greenhorn? Your itchy trigger finger is going to get someone killed and It would be better for all of us if it was a alien!"

Ruby looked to her right to see a brown-skinned man wearing olive-green Kevlar armor staring at the now identified 'Greenhorn' with disappointment in his somewhat dull brown eyes. He held a black shotgun and a fat, lit cigar was clumped firmly in his mouth. Stress wrinkles and graying black hair decorated his face telling Ruby that the man was at least in his early forties.

"Sorry sir! Won't happen again sir!" Greenhorn apologized and hastily formed a crude salute.

"You should be apologizing to the little girl here," the newcomer said as he lifted up his hand and pointed his index finger at her, then let it fall to his side.

Greenhorn then turned to Ruby and apologized.

"Oh, it's alright!" Ruby rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. Even though he did just shoot her, Ruby understood the paranoia that come from combat. She, herself, would occasionally shoot Weiss by accident. The resulting scolding on tactical awareness always caused Ruby discomfort. It was as if a younger version of her mom was scolding Ruby because her head was nearly blown off because of her. She completely understood Greenhorn's nervous glances at the newcomer.

When Ruby nodded, accepting the apology, he let out a sigh of relief and she thought she heard him mutter something about shit patrol. She could only guess that it was related to fecal matter as it had the S word.

"Good, now it's time for you to prove it! While the rest of your team enjoys whooping alien ass, you have the honor of escorting her to Firebrand," the newcomer then turned his hardened gaze upon Ruby, "He'll answer all of your questions." He turned to face Greenhorn, "Now move it!"

"Sir yes Sir!" Greenhorn yelled through gritted teeth. The forced words caused Ruby to flinch and wonder why he made such an effort to say the words.

"Uh huh. Alright little Miss, you'll get your introductions from him, but first, you need some clothes. Firebrand has some clothes stored to replace those rags, right now I got to make sure this latest batch of idiots don't go and blow themselves up," The newcomer said and then walked away, moving through a gap between the boxcars.

"Let's get moving, Firebrand's at the last boxcar. Also, name's Gallows, XCOM Resistance." The now named 'Gallows' said as he started walking and scanned the area for threats.. Ruby also noticed that his body was tensed up and held his rifle close to his chest. She assumed that Gallows was just on the lookout for any 'aliens'. Strange name for ADVENT, what were they? Little green men? Maybe they look human from the outside but are actually reptilian lizards when the armor is taken- _No Ruby, this isn't some Internet conspiracy theory._

"I heard something about aliens," she said as she followed Gallows.

"What?" He stared at her with a questioning eyebrow.

"You know, little green men? Creatures with acid blood? They can't be real right?"

"Ah shit," Gallows swore to himself a little more, "I'm either dealing with a pre-ADVENT abductee or a mind controlled one. This is going to be great."

"Mind control?" Ruby said frightfully, "Like actual mind control?"

"Yes."

Ruby's shoulder slumped. Mind control? She heard rumors that some people had a Semblance similar to it, but never seen it and she assumed it was movie stuff. Then there was the fact that this ADVENT had aliens. Living, breathing aliens. The thought of meeting one should have been exciting. After all, they could have all sorts of awesome technology like a plasma gun! But now Ruby was frightened.

"And, are they evil?"

"I would say so. They do melt people down into goo and kill unarmed civs while invading random planets for bullshit reasons. Fuckers weren't satisfied with Earth so they went to other worlds and conquered them. Latest one being called Remnant. I'm not sure why you call a planet that, but hey, that ain't my problem.."

Ruby stopped dead in her tracks and stared a thousand yards. Remnant conquered? Planets? Earth? Was the attack on Beacon apart of ADVENT's own plan? So many questions stormed in her head, with each new question she asked herself the answer was even more scarier.

"Hey, you okay? You look… confused."

"I-I don't know what's going on. You mentioned ADVENT, aliens, other planets, Earth. I'm just… shocked."

"Wait, do you know what Earth is?"

"Yeah. The stuff we're standing on right now. Dirt, soil, mud, that stuff."

"Where are you from?"

"Patch, it's a small island off of Vale."

" _Which planet."_ Gallows expression quickly darkened and the tone became a lot more serious.

A long, terrifying silence followed after that. The two locked eyes, Gallows stared seriously at an even more confused Ruby. He had just asked which planet she came from. If she was on another planet then that would make her Remnant's first interplanetary traveler. That should have been exciting, but the amount of pain that has happened during these recent times, her usual enthusiastic self had been cut down by a fiery sword of fear, hatred and a desire for vengeance."

"I'm from Remnant."

Another long silence followed, what was minutes seemed like hours.

"Holy shit," Gallows said. Ruby jumped in surprise after he had stayed quiet for so long." You're the first alien that hasn't tried to tear my head off."

"Just exactly how am I an alien?" Ruby placed crossed her arms and frowned. She wasn't some space tentacle monster!

"Despite your human appearance, you are foreign to Earth, therefore you're an alien."

Okay, when put it like that then maybe Ruby was a alien, at least to these people of Dirt World.

"You named your planet after soil?"

"I think it's a fitting name. Our world is covered in dirt and rock. I'll explain who ADVENT are and who we are soon, right now we need to get to Firebrand and from there she'll explain more. After all, our pilot isn't as… xenophobic as some others."

"Okay!" Ruby replied and the two resumed their trek to Firebrand occasionally having to navigate through a heavily damaged section of the train caused by the 'Resistance'. Ruby thought of it as clichéd, but it was fitting given they were resisting ADVENT.

"In short the ADVENT Coalition is a group of various alien races. About a hundred years ago they visited Earth, blew up someplace in Germany, started a war, fought against XCOM and the entire combined militaries of the world, won, and shortly after ADVENT was formed, but even after the war was 'officially' over, XCOM continued to fight till the aliens found the base and raided it. With the only organized resistance force gone, ADVENT curbed stomped the rest. A few lucky folk, though, managed to escape like Johnson. In fact, he did participate in the war!"

"Wait, you said that was a hundred years ago. How is he still alive?"

"Gene Mods, modifications to your genes, one of the many 'gifts' that ADVENT used to pacify most of Humanity, but some rebels, including me, managed to secure one before we booked it from the City Centers and hooked up with the now reformed XCOM."

"So, which one do you have?"

"One that allows me to jump like a certain Italian Plumber."

"Huh?" Ruby had no idea what Italian was, but she was sure that plumbers were average people unless they had a Aura.

"Oh, sorry. It just allows me to jump very high like from this ground to the top of a two story building."

"That's neat!"

"Not unless a Viper is laying in wait."

"A Viper?"

"Oh, the Snaketits? I hate those fuckers with a burning rage because like some snakes they bind you and hiss in your face. I seriously don't get why so many people find a real life snake woman attractive. Like seriously, each time a Viper is just slithering around in the city center, there's always this ONE fat guy with glasses drawing something either erotic or making a portrait of it." Gallows shuddered a bit at that. "And as I hate to admit it, the drawings are pretty good." He stopped his rant after looking at Ruby again.

"This is only getting more confusing," Ruby said. Gallows had switched from Viper to Snaketits. Why did they call it something inappropriate?

"You'll learn more, but back to XCOM! As I said, after XCOM fell, there were a few resistance cells that grew with time, mainly through kids, but a good portion of people moved out of the City Centers and even though the Resistance has been labeled Terrorists ADVENT seems content on just letting us live outside and only deal with the internal threats. That all change though when a few months ago, XCOM managed to locate and rescue its greatest asset, the Commander. Since then the bastards stepped up anti-resistance operations and indiscriminately attacked refugee camps. I lived at a camp when a surprise ADVENT raid happened and XCOM saved our asses.. I owed them my life so what better way other than to join the biggest group of badasses since the SEALs? Oh, and Firebrand isn't too far from here now. It should be just over there!"

"Um, where is it?" Ruby said as they reached the end of the train. There was nothing, and Gallows was pointing at nothing, seeing as she was looking at him like he was stupid he continued walking till he was several meters away from her and then turned to Ruby, crossed his arms, and leaned air as it seemed like an invisible wall was there.

That brought up an interesting question. Did they know about Aura and Semblances? If not, then how was he leaning on nothing?

Then he tapped three times with his right hand and a hollow, metal clank came in response. A couple minutes past before a electric buzz heralded the appearance of a sleek aircraft facing the forest. Ruby shook her head and blinked in disbelief as extending blue patches slowly revealed the craft. In just a few seconds, it fully decloaked.

That was cloaking tech, fitted on a aircraft. Atlas's scientists would have wet dreams about studying it since creating true invisibility nearly overlapped impossible. Ruby's mouth was slightly unhinged, watering with the thought of the kinds of weapons they might had since they that. She also noticed Gallows smiling.

"Love the invisible aircraft trick."

Before Ruby could respond, the craft's ramp landed down with a explosive thud and sending a tiny wave of mud flying. A person in black, bulky armor and a bug eyed helmet walked down the ramp. She couldn't discern any features since the pilot was covered in protective layers, but when the person waved and greeted with a 'yo' in a feminine tone, she then assumed 'Firebrand' was female.

"Firebrand, got a escapee here and Johnson ordered me to escort her to you," Gallows said as he stepped next to the pilot.

"Got it, shove the random naked chick into the Skyranger, give her clothes, and wait while Spartan one-eight cleans up any remaining ADVENT. Anything else?"

"Nothing else unless you got that five dollars you owe me in gambling debt."

"Does Monopoly money count?"

"Still a no."

"But it's paper…"

"We'll discuss this later," Gallows said in annoyance. It sounded like he had this conversation one too many times." Now take care of our little alien friend here-"

"Alien? Where?!" Firebrand panicked. Her head darted faster than a hummingbird all over the place looking for the 'alien' while Ruby pouted her lips. She did not enjoy being called alien, it was dehumanizing and mean even if it was true.

"The escapee!"

Firebrand stopped and glanced at Ruby, slightly moved her head up and down examining her, and then stared at Gallows.

"You mean the escapee, whose name I don't know, is a alien despite looking human? That doesn't make a lick of sense," Firebrand said.

"I know. I didn't believe that human aliens existed until ADVENT started broadcasting on Remnant."

Ruby heard the last part and blinded by her need to know what happened to her planet, interrupted the two by yelling," Do you know what happened then?!"

"Nope, ADVENT's keeping a tight lid on what's going on. Damned propaganda keeps spewing out that everything is under control and shortly after Remnant was invaded, ADVENT deployed a new unit. They call them 'Huntsmen' and 'Huntresses', people from your planet that 'willingly' joined upon seeing that the aliens were there to 'help them'. I bet five bucks that they're abducting people at random and sticking chips into their brains,." Gallows answered.

Ruby clutched her stomach. It felt like she had just been pierced by an arrow that was on fire.. Hunters and Huntresses helping the enemy? They were supposed to be the Protectors of Mankind so being controlled sounded a lot more plausible than willingly serve invading aliens.

"I think so, because Hunters are the Defenders of Mankind and the Faunus from the Grimm."

"Faunus?" Gallows said.

"Wait, you call those black and white things Grimm?" Firebrand also said.

"Yep, they're creatures drawn to negative emotions and as they age, they become bigger and smarter."

"How big can they get?"

"Pretty big, like a four story building,even though I'm not sure of their maximum height."

" _Intelligent Kaijus?!"_ Firebrand squealed excitedly which Ruby found concerning," and can they be tamed?"

"No."

"Has anyone tried?"

"As far as I know, no," Ruby answered. She looked at Firebrand trying to think of a reason why anyone would want to tame a soulless, murderous beast made out of darkness.

"I'm taming one, naming it Godzilla, and unleashing it on ADVENT's New Tokyo. I'll finally get my revenge for them ruining my favorite movie!"

"Wouldn't that put the civs in harm's way? And seriously, what is a Faunus?"

"They're mostly humans with animal traits like bunny or cat ears, monkey tails, or deer antlers."

"Japan and maybe India would go crazy for them, especially the catgirls and cows," Gallows mumbled.

"Do they have heat cycles?"

"Huh?"

"You know," Firebrand said and began dry humping the air. Gallows took a step away and Ruby let out a ew while turning away.

"What are you doing… "

"Because out in nature, heat cycles are a period where animals become sexually active and-" Gallows started to explain, but held up a finger and then placed it on his right ear. "Firebrand, Ruby's, gotta go. Johnson reports that a few Troopers managed to barricade themselves in the engine and are likely trying to radio for backup. A well placed grenade should drive them out so bye!" Gallows said and he bolted like lightening towards the other end of the train leaving both the pilot and Ruby alone.

"We'll talk about the Faunus later, but for now step onto the Skyranger! I'll give you a some new clothes, info on what's going on, and if you don't want to dig your own grave, do NOT, I repeat, do NOT tell anyone else that you're from Remnant." Firebrand said as the two headed inside the Skyranger.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"They're all Xenophobics, Supremacists and are generally really racist. Most are going to tear you apart because of ADVENT's alien pimps."

"But why would they hate me when my friends could be under Mind Control?"

"Earth Humans, as a species, like to think of ourselves as being on top of everything. Hell, at one point we thought Earth was the center of the Universe! So guess what happened when a bunch of high tech aliens came and shattered that?" Firebrand asked as she went between two middle seats and pressed light green buttons.

"Actually at one point, Remnant was thought to be the center of the Universe too."

"Huh, guess we have more in common than modern media would like to believe."

While she said that, Firebrand slid a panel out and placed it against the dull gray wall. Inside the hole was stuffed with varying colored cloths. The pilot pulled out brown cloths and then wadded it up before, without warning, tossed it to Ruby. "Here are your new clothes!" However, she let out an 'oof' and bent her head back when the soft, almost bed-like, fabric smashed into her face. The clothes then dropped to the floor in a messy heap.

"You need to work on your reflexes."

"Hey! I'm pretty fast!" Ruby protested as she picked up the clothes.

"Being fast and having fast reflexes are two different things kid, like Vipers and their insane dodging skills."

"What are Vipers anyway?"

"They're Snake women, don't know why, but men and women gawk at them despite the reptiles hissing in their faces all day. Maybe it's because of the tits?"

"Huh?" Ruby raised an eyebrow. The image of a small snake with breasts appeared in her boggled mind. Why would a reptilian have normally human body parts?

Firebrand shrugged as if she sensed what Ruby was thinking.

"Well, I'll head back into the cockpit while ya get dressed." The pilot said before she left for the cockpit, leaving the small allowing Ruby to put on the oh-so comfortable, loose clothes. It felt as though they were made out of puffy clouds though the sleeves and the pants were just a couple inches too long. It didn't bother Ruby too much, however, and she actually liked it. It reminded her of the old outfit, speaking of which what happened to it, especially her precious cloak? It was a gift her mother gave and the only thing to remember her by.

"Forgot about the shoes too!" Firebrand said and threw a pair of black boots through the cockpit. Ruby let out a surprised squeal as she ducked. Shortly after, a thud was heard and the boots went flying into the wall with a metallic bang.

"Friendly fire, dumbass," Johnson's annoyed voice caused Ruby to turn around to see that he and five others were entering the Skyranger.

"Johnson, you're back? Already? What happened?"

"ADVENT were dug in, but a couple of explosives convinced them to come out and play. They then had a good filling of hot lead and aiming fit for a Stormtrooper."

"Don't forget about Gallows being grenade happy." A graying blond haired, olive skinned man in tattered gray armor said. He moved sluggishly like some shoulder slumped veteran Hunter who had lived through hell, but kept upright as if he was still trying to remain optimistic. The man took a seat directly facing Johnson when he sat down.

"I was not grenade happy! I just...favor them as a weapon to eliminate the enemy's cover!" Gallows crossed his arms and took one of the two seats closest to the cockpit.

"Nobody mentioning the little girl in the middle of the cabin?" A big man said. Ruby was in awe at what appeared to be a bear in human form and unlike the rest of team, he had no sleeves showing off muscled biceps with a tattoo of three stars above a semi-circle inside a pentagon. His brown eyes, filled with a concerned curiosity, rested upon Ruby.

"Ah, a little girl lost her way?" A light blond, white skinned woman madly grinned. For a moment Ruby thought it was the pint-sized girl that worked for Roman, but this woman was taller, at least by a good foot and… were those human fingers dangling on her hips? The Huntress shivered at the sight while the woman just hearty chuckled and took a seat by the ramp.

"I'm guessing she's a escapee." Another white skinned male said. Ruby couldn't determine what hair color he had since he wore a water-blue beanie. A single strap of glass was held in place by black frames and a drone roughly the size of a VCR player hovered on his left.. Ruby also noticed he was half a foot taller than the woman. Unlike the rest who took seats, he opted to stand and pointed to the last empty seat right next to the cockpit.

"Thanks!" Ruby said as she took the seat.

"That she is or at least I'm hoping so and not one of those Chryssalid Shapeshifters," Johnson grumbled, "And here's your boots." He then threw them with enough skill and force that they landed right at Ruby's feet who nodded and proceeded to put them on. Just like the clothes, it felt as though the boots were manufactured from clouds.

They didn't have anything like that on Remnant. That also brought up a question, if they were rebels then how could they get stuff like this? And Johnson mentioned 'Chryssalid Shapeshifters', which hopefully weren't bodysnatchers. Ruby still had nightmares about Yang screaming in an unearthly voice.

"Fuck those things, as if the regular ones were bad enough with their shitty reproduction that spawns three they had to go and give them shape shfiting abilities!" Gallows growled, a bestial anger seeping into his voice.

"What are Chryssalids?" Ruby asked and immediately shrunk into her seat when every eye stared at her.

"In short, oversized bugs that disregard the Laws of Biology and inject embryos into their victims resulting in a very disgusting cocoon that ends up killing the host. Then the cocoon gives birth to three new Chryssalid Hatchlings." the man with the drone explained inducing a gape from Ruby. She felt queasy like the first time she learned how babies came to be, but tenfold.

"Alright, enough chit-chat ya Redshirts, we're taking off soon!" Firebrand shouted from the cockpit loud enough for everyone to hear. With that, Ruby felt the cabin shake as the Skyranger's ramp closed and the aircraft itself lifted off. "We'll be at the Avenger in five to seven minutes so enjoy your R-and-R."

"Ruby, when we land we're going straight to the Commander to decide what to do with you. But don't expect much cause we're most likely we're going to drop you off at a refugee camp," Johnson sternly said.

"But my friends are out there!" Ruby yelled out. She was not going to sit around in some camp while her friends and teammates suffered.

"How old are you?"

"Fifteen." Ruby replied proudly. She was certain that her combat skills would help, if only she could get Crescent Rose back.

"Kid, the world isn't your average superhero cartoon, most likely that's whats in your head. Chances are, your friends are either dead, melted down into some goop for the aliens to use and, if not they're under control of ADVENT as grunts if they were abducted. Honor their memory by being in the land of the living living, because Lord knows they'll be dead before this war is over. "

Ruby flinched at each word. More of her friends dead when there were already so many? No, she wasn't going to allow that to happen!

"Guys and gals, we're on fast approach to the Avenger!" Firebrand announced, interrupting the conversation. "There have been reports of a UFO so our HQ heliship is meeting us mid-flight so get your asses ready for a bumpy landing!"

"Those seven minutes went by fast…" The man with the drone quietly said.

And with that, the cabin shook once again and when it stopped, the ramp went down allowing the sunlight to flood in. Ruby had to raise a hand over her eyes to shield it from the blinding rays.

"Come on, the Commander's waiting," Johnson said and walked out of the aircraft. Ruby followed, believing she could convince the leader of XCOM on letting her stay.

Maybe it was just a fleeting hope but hope was the last thing Ruby could hold onto.

 **A/N**

 **Betaread and edited by frigginnope.**

 **Hello everyone! Archwar here with the rewrite ready to go! Also, kudos to frigginnope for their awesome editing! Anyways, I do hope you find this rewrite to be far better than my original story and please write constructive reviews and not flame me as those reviews will be reported or deleted.**

 **This is Archwar, signing off!**


	2. Chapter 2: The Avenger

Ruby looked around as she walked down the ramp and noticed that they were above a forest. They were low enough to see individual trees and even buildings that occasionally sticked out from said trees. On the platform that the Skyranger landed on, white-clothed people milled about carrying normal-sized crates, huddled in groups, or gathered around Spartan 1-8. Johnson, at the head of the group, shook his head at a smiling woman with a red cross symbol on her right breast.

"Good to know that no one got hurt," the woman began, "Though I do wish to perform a medical examination of the abductee. Ruby, was it not?"

"Hygeia, you know that the aliens make sure everyone is healthy so the goo or the grunts they make are 'highly trained'. We were lucky Ruby didn't think Gallows' face was a chew toy."

"I would still like to perform a checkup and let Tygan extract a chip if she has one," Hygeia said as she twirled a lock of golden hair.

"After we speak to the Commander." Johnson ended the conversation before whispering something to her. Ruby's ears couldn't pick up most of what he said, but three words they caught, 'before she expires,' which basically were two more huge red flags in her mind.. The implications caused Ruby to visibly shake. Could she, at any time, just drop dead because of some device or pill someone probably implanted or gave her when she was out for...how long again? And what was this chip they kept talking about?

"Johnson, I know that. Shepard knows how to disable the connection between the chip and the Psionic network. Now go before someone decides to off her."

Ruby's shaking calmed down a bit upon hearing that Shepard could help out. She also guessed that he was also the Commander of XCOM. Ruby could also ask about this 'Psionic' network late. But there was a bigger problem that being the possibility of her head exploding and leave a million little pieces that formed the head of Ruby Rose. That prompted her to walk up to them and say,

"Let's go."

"Hm?" Johnson raised a eyebrow. "Must have overheard us talking about the dropping dead bit. Alright, let's go."

"Sharp ears kid, but anyways gotta go. I'll see you later to do medical stuff." Hygeia smiled. It reminded Ruby of how a mother might smile to her child when they said child was scared, not like she was! ...Maybe she was.

Hyegia then walked away, disappearing into an armory of so many. Different. Weapons! Though there was no wall separating what she presumed to be the docking bay and the armory itself which left a huge vulnerability. Like if something were to explode then there would be really big problems.

"Come on Ruby, the Commander's waiting." Johnson said and proceeded to walk into the armory itself. Ruby followed, letting her eyes wander in amazement and that amazement dwindled till it was, but a quarter of its former self upon realizing that, despite some modifications like regular scopes or stocks, most shared the same base model depending on type, but they could still be awesome! Like Jaune's sword…not really...awesome...poor guy.

And some people shot distrusting, nervous looks that burrowed into Ruby causing her to look down and twiddle her thumbs. Averting the menacing gazes that were given to her. The rest, however, either ignored them or glanced briefly before their interest waned and returned back to what they were doing. That made her curious as to why some were on a knife's edge while the others were fine. Paranoia probably. She didn't blame them.

"Johnson, why am I getting strange looks from some people?"

"Those guys, they're called twitchers, people who can't even trust the shit that come from their asses."

"Why?" Ruby asked, disregarding the somewhat vulgar last part.

"The aliens didn't just come in and waved all lady-like, they came in and fucked lots of stuff up in three months. The cowards targeted civilians but when we showed up, then they realized what the human race was truly capable of! However, XCOM couldn't save everyone, a lot of people died during the war leaving a bitter taste in our mouths even after the Unification Treaty was signed. We fought on using our underground base for three years before the newly formed ADVENT found us and destroyed everything, scattering us to the wind. Commander Shepard was captured, so many of my friends were killed, and people like Bradford and I just gave up fighting," Johnson shook his head sadly. "Everything we had worked for gone in a mere four hours."

Ruby looked at Johnson sympathetically. She could relate to him. To her, Beacon was always a shining ray of hope against a dark, grim tide of endless beasts and when she finally got admitted into it, early then most. She was beyond happy. Then she met her friends, Weiss, Blake, Penny, JNPR, CVFY, and others… then all of it was shattered for reasons unknown. Ruby also wanted to give up, let the villains win, but then the sacrifices that were made would be in vain. Besides, she always wanted to be a hero even though Ruby didn't imagine it quite like this.

"I know how you feel, some of my friends were… killed by horrible people," Ruby felt tears welting up, but she wouldn't cry, not when there was so much to do.

"May the Lord accept their souls into Heaven. Now, to avoid being depressed for the rest of our lives, why don't I talk about the Avenger?"

Ruby nodded. It would take her mind off of the sad times.

And when she nodded, Johnson grinned.

"Well, as you already know, we were just in the docking bay where the Skyranger is kept and most of the supplies are stored as space is limited. Currently we're in the armory where XCOM stores its weapons, armors, and anything else that make the alien bastards regret stepping on Earth in the first place."

"Is there anything special like a scythe that can also transform into a sniper rifle?" Ruby asked. The possibility of XCOM having Crescent Rose was slim and it sure sounded suspicious, but if she could have her sweetheart back then ADVENT would receive the buttkicking of it's life!

"We don't have anything like that, but such a weapon could be helpful in whipping ADVENT's ass. However, we do have some powerful tools like the Bolt Caster and Shadowkeeper." Johnson pointed to two weapons that were on a special display. Ruby didn't get a good look at them since Johnson kept walking, "Moving on, we are about to enter the Geoscape," Johnson said as the two walked up to a dark blue door that slid opened when they got close.

When Ruby entered the 'Geoscape', her surprised silver eyes rested on a floating, transparent globe of what she presumed to be Earth. Underneath it was a table that projected a blue light and above it was a ring of blank monitors. On the globe itself were various icons such a ADVENT trooper or a factory and over the landmass titled _Africa_ were two ships. One looked like a Helicarrier from a movie Ruby watched a long time ago and another that was the typical saucer UFO flying about.

This tech was amazing! The simple ability to see locations of activity would be a tremendous help to Hunters as they would be able to respond where needed!

After Ruby tore her glued eyes away from the wondrous tech, she looked around the rest of the room and found it lackluster. She was expecting some awesome Sci-Fi stuff like a command chair in the middle where the captain would be barking out orders. Instead it was just a bunch of people tapping away on some weird box devices with blinking lights like in those boring old movies.

However, her attention was caught by two men standing next to the globe. One had a dim scar running down his left cheek stopping just below his dulling brown eyes and had a stubble of a beard that didn't looked neatly groomed, similar to outlaws living on Vale's frontier. The name 'C.O Bradford' was stitched onto a military olive green shirt and he constantly shifted his right index finger from icon to icon telling the other man about stuff like ADVENT operations in a deep, growly as if he suffered from a drinking problem.

The man next to him followed his pointing with tired, baggy, blue eyes and the name 'J. Shepard' was also stitched onto a dark gray military uniform with a digital pattern to it. He had a brown buzz cut through to the far right. A scar went almost all the way up to the top of the skull and the hair refused to grow there. He also had a stubble of a beard though it was neatly groomed, growing downwards. When he spoke, it was a tone of an experienced commander much like Ironwood which made Ruby wonder, what exactly happened to that guy? Last time she saw him, his ship plummeted from the sky though there were later reports of his survival.

"Commander!" Johnson saluted when he was a few meters away.

"At ease sergeant, I trust the mission went well?"

"We kicked their asses, Commander," Johnson grinned, "and we also recovered a escapee."

Johnson raised a hand and gestured to Ruby.

"Hi!" Ruby waved.

"ADVENT's kidnapping children now? And what's with the silver eyes?" Bradford said.

"They're natural!" Ruby protruded her lips in annoyance. She also was about to say that they marked her as a great warrior, but remembered Firebrand's warning. XCOM might suspect something if she told them about it which went against gaining their trust that was required to find the others.

"Damn designer babies," Bradford mumbled and Ruby raised a eyebrow. What was a designer baby? Like the child of a designer?

"I don't care what she is,Brad, right now we need to get sever the connection. I suggest you relax because I'm about to enter your mind." Shepard said.

Ruby immediately tensed up in fear. What exactly did he mean by entering her mind?!

"Shepard's being serious about relaxing, because if you don't it makes things much harder for both parties,." Bradford pointed out.

Ruby took a deep breath and forcibly relaxed her iron-tensed muscles. Shepard then walked behind her and felt a firm yet gentle grip much like a father's on the back of her head. This was followed by cool feeling, like an autumn breeze, that spread from the skin to bone and then a familiar summer warmth sprang up. A needle-like pain grew all across her head causing Ruby to whimper. Her Aura was trying to push back whatever entered her mind, but it was like a person trying to push back a tidal wave and it shattered like glass.

However, Shepard did grunt in discomfort so her Aura did have some effect. To what extent, Ruby wasn't sure.

After her Aura was emptied, much to her shock and horror, the cool feeling began digging around her mind. It felt weird to have something equal to a worm inside your head and not pleasant at all. Like at all. However it also wasn't horrible, excruciating pain. So that was a step up from that. Might as well say it was akin to playing in the mud.

Then the coolness gathered in a single place and a new feeling appeared. It was a winter-like cold formed into a ball and it tried to take over the coolness. As it did, it began growing colder and Ruby began breathing faster in panic. Her pupils dilated in natural fear, but despite that, the others did not comment or attempt to calm her down as if they had seen this happen a dozen times before.

The coldness continued to grow, but so did the coolness and Ruby thought she could hear Shepard breathing in rhythmic motion like he was mediating.

Eventually though, the coldness began to succumb to the coolness and it was consumed by it. When the final bit was gone, Shepard released his grip leaving Ruby in a daze. She stumbled around before Johnson placed a firm grip on her right shoulder to prevent her from falling.

"Steady now," Johnson said.

"Shepard, you okay?" Ruby heard Bradford from behind her.

"Yes Brad, just didn't expect a second layer of defense. ADVENT's getting smarter every day."

"What happened?" Ruby asked as she turned around to see Shepard with a hand on his right temple and Bradford next to him, watching carefully as XCOM's commander leaned more and more to his right to the point where Ruby thought he would tip over.

"Weren't you listening? The Commander severed the connection between the kill switch and ADVENT's network," Johnson responded.

"Just like that?"

"Psionic power," Shepard said as he regained his balance, "is a powerful tool. We're not sure what it is, but it is one of the alien's greatest assets, and recently, ours. And since we got that out of the way, I am Commander Shepard, this here," he gestured to Bradford, "is my right hand man, Central Officer Bradford."

"I'm Ruby! A…" Ruby caught herself before saying Huntress, "kid?"

" _Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why did you say that! WHY!?"_ Ruby mentally scolded herself. If Remnant's Hunters were being used against XCOM, they would not like that and the word kid was the first thing that came to her mind.

"We can see that," Bradford raised a eyebrow. He shrugged it off as the side effects of coming out of stasis.

"Yes, you're very… kiddy," Shepard said causing Bradford to groan inwardly. Ruby saw Shepard whisper to Bradford but she could hear what he said. "Is that even a word?" Bradford shook his head.

"Congratulations Commander, you have been promoted to the rank of Captain Obvious." Johnson said earning a glare from Bradford, but Shepard ignored it.

"So, what happens now?" Ruby asked.

"We don't have the resources to keep every stray we pick up on the Avenger and so you'll be dropped off at one of the refugee camps," Shepard replied.

"But my friends!" Ruby protested. Shepard walked over, placed both hands on her shoulders, and lowered himself to eye level.

"We've all suffered, Ruby, and if we find them, we'll drop them off at the camp where you're staying, got it?"

"But, but…"

Before Shepard could reply, a panicked shout filled the Geoscape.

"UFO chasing-"

That was all that was said when the Geoscape shook violently and a field of electricity passed through the room. Ruby froze up believing that she was about to be electrocuted. Instead, when it engulfed her, all Ruby felt was nothing more than a mere tickle. However, the shaking did throw her onto her bum.

She recovered in a few seconds, jumping back onto her feet and struggled to maintain balance as the room continued to shake like a earthquake. Ruby saw that Bradford was holding onto a railing near the now missing globe, Shepard was face flat on the floor, and Johnson was muttering something. Electric sparks jumped from the machines as people clung to anything to keep upright or were sliding towards the left side of the darkening Geoscape. Ruby also heard mechanical whirs as the Avenger's machinery powered down.

"We're losing power!" One of the crewmember said.

"We're going down!" The same crewmember said.

"FUUUUCK!" Johnson screamed as he hit his head on one of the railings.

"We're all gonna die!" Another crewmember said.

"WEEEEE!" Ruby squealed as she was thrown across the room.

Panic stricken shouts and yells and the odd sequel of joy coming from Ruby filled the Geoscape as the Avenger continued to plummet.

"Impossible!" A feminine voice called out. Ruby turned over to where the owner of the voice was was. There, in front of a screen with small amounts of static on it, an image of the Avenger and information related to it was a woman in a sleeveless jacket furiously tapping away on a keyboard.

"There's no damage to the engines unless it was a EMP!"

"Thanks for the information we already know Shen!"

"If I can just bypass all this alien circuitry," Shen said as windows and symbols popped up. "Hold on!"

"Shen!" Bradford called out as Ruby too begun to panic. Which was in deep contrast from the squeal of joy a minute ago.

"AHHH!"

"It's not accepting the transfer!" Shen reported as a audible, sharp beep repeated itself. "Interference ready… the systems are overriding my commands!"

"We're doomed!" Another crewmember said.

"I don't want to die!" And another crewmember said.

"WEEEEE!" Ruby squealed again as she was thrown through the room again.

"SHEN!" Bradford roared over the chaotic bedlam.

"Right!" Shen said as she turned and rushed over to an upright rectangular device. She then pried off a panel revealing a wheel which she latched onto and turned. The area around it flickered to gold as another whir heralded the sweet return of power. It got so excited that it sent a blast of sparks sending Shen onto her back, but the returning roar of the Avenger's engines reverberated throughout the Geoscape. However, Ruby still felt that the heliship was falling down to earth and suddenly the room gave one last jerk as everyone who wasn't holding onto something was thrown onto the floor.

" _Emergency power online."_ A dull female voice nonchalantly said as red lights flooded the Geoscape much to Ruby's confusion before the idea of an automated voice entered her mind.

"Someone get me a damage report," Bradford commanded as he walked over to Shen.

"Ouch," Shepard grumbled as he too got up and stumbled over to her.

"We got a problem." Shen said as the globe exploded back to life only to dissipate again.

"What happened?!" Ruby asked. She held up a hand to her throbbing head.

"Aliens used a EMP, we were _very_ lucky that we didn't end up as pancakes." Johnson replied. Emphasizing the word _very_.

"Only one problem?" Bradford asked as he stopped at the right of Shen.

"They've just dropped some sort of spike outside. It's generating the same pulse that knocked us out of the sky."

Ruby looked over at the screen and the figure of some kind of device that sent a wave. Each time the wave passed over the Avenger, the Geoscape shook as the globe continued its struggle to reform.

"Can you override it?"

"Not from here."

"Get Reaper 1-8 ready and deploy those turrets. Bradford, try and contact any nearby resistance cells and tell them we need immediate help. Comms, monitor the battlenet." Shepard barked out the orders. "Shen, where is the damn thing?" Shepard asked.

"Nearby some old power station… in the middle of the generators."

"Are they still on?"

"Don't know."

"We just have to find out don't we?" Shepard smiled as he hurried towards the armory.

"Be careful out there Commander!" Bradford called out.

"I can help too!" Ruby said as she ran up next to Shepard who stopped and looked at her with narrowed eyes that told her that he wasn't going to let her. She narrowed her own eyes to tell him that she wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"I'm not going to be responsible if you get yourself killed."

"I can handle myself." Ruby sternly said.

"Get a weapon, but you only stay in Engineering, got it? And don't touch anything when you're there!"

"Got it!"

"Shepard, are you sure about this?!" Bradford yelled.

"Yes, I'm sure." Shepard replied, "Now let's show these ADVENT Bastards that XCOM lives."

 **A/N:**

 **Betaread and edited by fringingnope.**

 **A chapter that just introduces us to the Avenger, but the UFO did shoot it down so let us hope everything goes smoothly next chapter. Also, there's going to be a couple of surprises. Not telling ya cause that would spoil it!**

 **Also, the plan for this story is still to include elements from other Universes like Johnson from Halo and Shepard from Mass Effect, but I'm gonna scale it down. As for the other Maidens, I was wondering if you guys are ok with OCs or characters from other Universe filling the roles. Now, onto the comments!**

 **Sailoulee: Interesting? How so if I may ask?**

 **TheHermitoftheWeb: No, but I'll look into it. What I had in mind was a radical form of Anthropocentrism or the belief that Humans, in short, are the greatest species on the planet, expect now this extends to the Universe with groups similar to the Nazis and KKK. It is also my goal to try and include a variety of character types into this story so we're not stuck with a bunch of redshirts that are destined to die within a few paragraphs after introduction.**

 **But thanks for telling me about Civ's Supremacy faction as might try to turn that into a group inside the XCOMverse.**

 **Ninjamonkey3904: Oh, they'll appear and people might not like what I've done with them! :D**


	3. Chapter 3: The Snake

Alarms blared as Ruby entered the Engineering section of the Avenger with a sniper rifle firmly held in her hands while XCOM's elite team, Reaper 1-8 went to a sloped wall, grouping up over there. Inside Engineering there were the typical tools and furniture one might find in a regular workshop in Remnant, just add a coat of Sci-fi to it. However, off to her right were black and red turrets one might find on an APC, but half a body taller than the average man and much, much bulkier. The engineers gathered around them and grunted as they loaded them up onto rails then hooked the base to a white robot that towered over all of them. It was vaguely similar to the Paladin, but more human looking and was as tall as the top of the Paladin's leg.

But Ruby decided that she shouldn't gawk at a robot designed for labor when aliens were invading.

She looked around as the grizzled, hardened veterans of Reaper 1-8 formed a group in the center with Shepard at the front. None of them noticed as she walked up behind them. Shepard kept pacing back and forth seemingly waiting for something. Then, after a couple of minutes, a metallic roar announced the dropping of the sloped wall in front of them that landed onto the ground with a bang, sending up a flurry of desert sand. A blast of dried, blazing hot air carried sand into Ruby's eyes causing her to intrusively blink several times to get said sand out of her eyes

"Go, go, go!" Shepard barked and Reaper 1-8 obeyed, rushing passed him as they took cover on the ramp.

Ruby followed, but Shepard stepped in the way with a glare.

"Stay in Engineering. I also trust that you know how to handle a gun?"

"Yep!"

"Then stay here. Spartan 1-8 is going to be defending this area so they'll stop any aliens from entering the Avenger."

And with that, Shepard turned and ran as fast as lightning before Ruby could even get a chance to reply. She frowned in disappointment. He made it sound like that she wouldn't be able to handle ADVENT out there, but she did understand why as not many would be willing to send children into battle, but she would prove herself to XCOM that she wasn't some regular kid! She was a Huntress! Defender of the innocent against Grimm and now aliens!

" _Shen, any updates?"_ Bradford's voice sounded over the earpiece Shepard had given her before exiting the armory.

" _We have a critical power failure, the Avenger is dead in the water and I'm diverting reserve power to the scanners. There's a device surrounded by old generators. The device is sending out an EMP essentially disabling any type of equipment that isn't ADVENT's."_

" _Got it Shen, but people, we may have a bigger problem approaching. Our Intel picks up heavy comm traffic and dozens of ADVENT transports are inbounds with Battleships in tow. If we don't get off the ground soon, we may not make it out of this one! Scanners are also picking up multiple ADVENT squads consisting of grunts, Sectoids, MECs, and Mutons along with everyone's least favorite, the V.K."_

Ruby grimaced when a collective groan of annoyance flooded the earpiece.

" _Of course Ice Cube had to join!"_ Johnson growled.

" _Then let us hope the V.K. hasn't recovered since our last engagement."_ Shepard said," _Johnson, how long till Spartan 1-8 is ready?"_

" _Two minutes, give or take a few seconds, after that we're ready for some ass-kicking!"_

" _Good, Bradfo-"_

Ruby heard both over the earpiece and outside the howls of gunfire, surprised shouts, bestial roars, and snake-like hisses dominating the sides of the Avenger. She couldn't see what was going on because of her height, but red and yellow-green lights danced around each other as Reaper 1-8 screamed over the comms.

" _ADVENT's flanking us on both sides!"_

" _Eat mag-lead you fucks!"_

" _Shit, that was a close one!"_

" _How much longer till those damn turrets are up?!"_ Shepard half shouted-half roared over the battle.

"The MEC is rolling out!" One of the engineers responded and when Ruby looked over, the white robot ran, dragging the turrets behind it out into the desert as if it was dragging a string of pillows. As soon as the last turret disappeared, the engineers darted deeper into the Avenger leaving Ruby alone in the oil-ridden Engineering section.

The Huntress simply stood there; ready to shoot any alien that came over the ramp.

" _Viper just past me and is gunning straight for the control panel!"_

The report was followed by the sound of a shotgun blast.

" _Damnit! Engineering you got a snake inbound!"_ A man's frustrated shout warned Ruby of the incoming alien.

She channeled her Aura into her arms and lifted it with experience and ease though Ruby had to stop herself from shoving a imaginary blade into the ground because of the habit she developed with Crescent Rose to help with recoil.

 _This is gonna suck…_ Ruby thought. She was going to have to get used to the fact that not only that her beloved weapon wasn't with her anymore, but she also couldn't go and strike the aliens with a scythe… unless she could attach one onto the sniper.

" _Snake is just below you!"_

Ruby stiffened in apprehension and shouldered the rifle.

" _Warning, unauthorized presence detected."_ the same dull female A.I. announced the arrival of the Viper that was so beautifully defined by Firebrand and Greenhorn.

Ruby's trigger finger tensed and adrenaline rushed through her veins as her pupils dilated and her breathing slowed.

The ominous hiss came just before the second largest snake Ruby had ever seen slithered into Engineering. The alien rose to tower above Ruby by at least two feet and the lower, snake-like tail added to that height. However, upon seeing the more humanoid torso, she shuddered at its uncanniness. The 'Viper' had the structure of a woman with medium-sized breasts, slender arms, and narrow hips yet its face was protruded much like that of a snake and had the flaps similar to a King Cobra. Its red, reptilian eyes dangerously narrowed upon seeing Ruby while every few seconds a forked tongue glided out and back in its muzzle.

The air felt heavy to Ruby as the two stared at each other in anticipation of a fight. Ruby pressed the trigger as soon as she lined up a shot at its head.

The sniper viciously kicked upwards as the projectile left the barrel and its recoil nearly sent Ruby tumbling onto her bum. However, she quickly brought it back down just in time to see the Viper dodged to the right with fluid-like motion.

" _What?!"_ Ruby mentally screamed, " _There's nothing alive that quick to outspeed a bullet!"_

And then it proceeded to slither and twist around the tables rapidly covering the distance between Ruby and itself. The constant, deliberate movement threw Ruby's aim off as she desperately tried to find a pattern to its motions to get another shot off before it did… whatever it would do.

Which brought up the question why didn't it use the gun it grasped?

Given what she knew of King Taijitus and other snake-like Grimm, they had a tendency to… _oh no._

Ruby fired as much as the weapon allowed her to which unfortunately was a pea-shooter when compared to Crescent Rose. She hoped that one lucky hit could spell the end for the Viper before it had to chance to bind and eat her whole!

Yet each bullet missed or simply bounced off the armor as the Viper went faster as if tasting and enjoying Ruby's growing fear.

When the alien was about twelve feet away, it sprang up and she thought she could finally kill it.

And then she felt a slimy wetness and something akin to a tongue tighten around her neck.

Ruby lowered her eyes to see a reddish-orange appendage and she followed it to see it led all the way back to the Viper's extended jaws…

"Oh shit." Ruby squeaked, uncharacteristically swearing just before the Viper pulled back its torso and retracted it tongue, dragging a screaming Ruby with it.

When she was just an arm's length away, the tongue loosened and slithered back into the snake's mouth. Ruby had a moment of clarity to witness the Viper smoothly coil around her before panic set in. As it tightened its lung-crushing bind, the former Huntress-in-training squirmed and thrashed in a feeble attempt to escape. It did nothing by the way, but caused the Viper to hungrily hang over Ruby. Then it opened its mouth wide enough to fit the petite girl. And it drew closer.

Then closer.

Then closer.

Ruby's eyes became fearful pools of fear, paralyzed by the fact that this thing was going to swallow her.

Her mind was in overdrive as she attempted more and more to find a way out of this lung-crushing bind..

And then a shotgun was trusted into the Viper's mouth, its own eyes widening in fearful realization at what was about to happen.

"Try our new lead menu. Served by yours truly." Johnson coolly said. A glance from Ruby showed that he was grinning as he pulled the trigger and she jerked when the weapon blasted the snake's head which in turn turned it into a thousand tiny bits of reptilian flesh.

Ruby felt the Viper's body go limp and fell to the ground. The crushing feeling was replaced by light pain and a ringing sound given by the shotgun, but at least she could breathe now. Which was good. Great even.

"Little tip, don't go for the head, go for the lower parts." Johnson said as the other members of Spartan 1-8 marched in.

"Are you alright?" The biggest man of the team asked. He stood protectively to Ruby and Johnson.

Ruby simply nodded, still recovering from nearly being a snake's lunch.

"The young ones do have a tendency to do that, try and eat anything that can fit into their mouths during battle. Stupid move, but what can you expect from kids these days, eh?" The man with the drone said as he knocked over a table and kneeled behind it.

"As I said kid, the world isn't some superhero cartoon." Johnson scolded. He opened his mouth to continue, but a scream tore through their earpieces.

" _V.K. just got through us!"_

"Ah fuck. Everyone into position now!" Johnson barked and everyone leaped into varying stances.

Ruby slid into a kneeling position beside Drone Guy as well as Johnson.

"Kid, the V.K, or Viper King is a male Viper that has an icy breath and Psionic capabilities plus increased resilience. Other than that, he's like any other Viper. Put it down, and we may get an advantage here."

" _Psionics?"_ Ruby thought. She didn't know what they were talking about, but she nodded anyways. The Huntress shouldered the sniper and scanned from side to side for the Viper King.

And then it slithered right into Engineering in all of its pale-white glory. Like the other viper, it retained traits similar to a snake, but the flaps had black spikes protruding out and it was more robust. The armor was also blue with no hint of a breast and two dragon-like horns projected a symbol Ruby didn't understand. However, the way it carried itself was like a overly arrogant Weiss… did the aliens manage to clone Weiss and make her a snake?

Snake-Weiss or not, Ruby aimed and fired before anyone else could. Just like before, it dodged and she thought she saw a smirk as it did, but Ruby predicted where it would stop and fired again just as it moved into position. In the blink of an eye, Ruby saw Snake-Weiss recoil back as its left eye ruptured like a water balloon along with bits of its flesh and bone flying off in a spray of orange fluid.

" _MY EYE!"_ It bellowed in furious anger and pain, still recovering from getting a botched eye surgery.

The others took the opportunity to unleash a hail of bullets and taunts, but Snake-Weiss had recovered quickly enough, holding a hand over the mangled hole, and opened its mouth. Ruby thought it was going to do a tongue-grab (which would have been stupid). But instead, a white mist spewed out and moved with the Viper's head horizontally surprising Ruby that a wall of ice formed.

So the aliens did clone Weiss! Wait.

But wasn't it a male?

Dang it!

And just like clockwork, the bullets smashed into the wall.

"How do I reload this?" Ruby muttered as she tried to figure out where the magazine even was.

Then a whirr on the other side indicated that something, most likely a weapon was being charged up. Ruby looked at the wall to see the Viper had slithered over it and pointed its weapon at her.

Time slowed to a turtle's pace as Ruby imagined that using her Semblance to dodge to either side would just result in sending her and whoever else flying. The table was also in the way and knocking that down would give the snake more opening. Going backwards wasn't going to be helpful whatsoever which meant the only way was to go left or right. Or perhaps she could smash into the V.K.! It wouldn't expect that!

So Ruby leaped over the table and she heard Drone Guy's and Johnson's cries for her to find cover while Snake-Weiss sticked out its tongue.

She could imagine it saying in Weiss' voice, _You dolt, this is what you get for being you!_

Then Ruby blasted forth, the air pushing up against her, but parted and she smashed into the snake that let out a startled hiss. Ruby tumbled through the air and hit the surprisingly warm, wet wall. Nonetheless, hitting an ice wall did no wonders for her other than send a sharp, rippling pain throughout her body.

She fell down to the floor and curled up in pain, said pain enveloping her.

" _So you're the little girl Uber was speaking about."_ The snake hissed in disappointment.

Ruby, by then, had pushed herself up and used one arm to support herself. She lifted her head to watch in fright as the Viper quickly looked over her as some failure before turning to face Spartan 1-8 causing confusion to swell in Ruby's head.

What did it mean by that and why hadn't it tried to finish her off? Ruby was hoping that it would have been ended by someone shooting it in the face when it was down, but no one fired.

"Surprise, motherfucker!" A voice roared with glee causing both Ruby and the Viper King to look to the right.

Ruby saw the only woman in Spartan 1-8 recklessly charge with a raised machete. Snake-Weiss whipped around, charging its weapon, but the woman jumped the remaining foot between them and swung her blade downwards. The V.K. hastily moved an armored arm forward and steel met another type of alloy in an explosion of sparks while the woman planted her feet at either side of the snake.

The two glared at each other before the Viper yanked its arm back and the machete away from the woman who then proceeded to fall onto her bum.

Ruby had gotten into a sitting position and jumped up after seeing the foolishly brave stunt. Her eyes darted, desperately searching for the sniper rifle.

" _We'll meet again, little one."_ Ruby heard Guy-Snake-Weiss' threat and she looked at the Viper just as it raised an outstretched hand in front of Spartan 1-8. Seconds later, bright blue wisps of energy popped out of thin air and flew inwards.

Ruby took a step back. Was it making a bomb?!

However, another few seconds later, a spinning spiral of purple flashed to life with a empty, purple hole in the middle and from it, Ruby could feel great power like a sun going supernova.

Snake-Weiss slithered by and went into the middle of it. A explosion of blue-white blinded Ruby and when it cleared, both it and the Snake were gone.

"No! Arseripper!" The woman cried out in sorrow. "I forged that blade you fucker!"

" _This is Reaper-Actual,"_ Shepard's voice crackled over the now quiet battle, " _Ramp is secured, minimal injuries. It's quiet out there, Spartan-Actual, what's going up in there?"_

"V.K. ran back to his overlords, crying that he got his ass handed to him after Ruby pulled some disappearing act and barreled into him."

" _Disappearing act?"_

Those two words were what caused Ruby to remember what Firebrand and Gallows said to her. She tried to figure out a feasible lie, but under everyone's questioning and disbelieving gaze, Ruby was scared at what might happen. This was backed up by a "you're dead mate" expression from Gallows.

" _We'll talk about at another time, for now just protect the control panel while we take care of the Disrupter."_

"Such an original name."

" _Don't speak unless it's important."_

"Yes, sir! We'll sit here waiting with guns ready to greet any bastard!"

" _Copy, moving out."_

And with that, Spartan 1-8 and Ruby went back into position. They nervously awaited in silence, broken up by the occasional report by Shepard or someone else. Ruby also used the time to learn how to reload a sniper rifle, which was simple by the way. Press a button, unclip the small box, and slip in a new one.

Ruby didn't know what would happen after this, but she herself had once been subjected to racism by some misunderstood Faunus. The names they used weren't nice, but at least they didn't try to physically harm her(probably because they knew Yang would have their heads). However, from Firebrand's tone, she made it sound as though the 'Xenophobes' among them considered any aliens to be a threat that NEEDS to be exterminated.

That would be a lot worse than being called names.

Or maybe she was being overly paranoid. What if the previously mentioned 'Psionics' was just a different name for Aura? After all, Snake-Weiss summoned a rift to teleport it, _him,_ Ruby reminded herself.

Ruby's musing was interrupted by a report by Bradford.

" _Engineering, scanners are picking up a single entity inbound, possible high-level threat. Diamond 1-8 is geared up and coming for the assist."_

"Copy Central, this one is braver than the V.K.!" Johnson chuckled as he pumped his shotgun.

Then four simultaneous, resounding booms reverberated throughout Engineering followed by Bradford's cry, " _All four turrets are offline! Be ready people!"_

The sounds of weapons cocking and frightful tension filled the Engineering Section.

Behind the now semi-melted wall, Ruby saw a distorted form of a human with two long, brown… bunny ears?

It couldn't be. No it can't. No.

Then it leaped over the ice wall like a rabbit and Ruby let out a horrified, shocked gasp. Before her stood Velvet.

And she looked ready to kill everyone.

 **A/N:**

 **Betaread and edited by friggingnope**

 **Alright, before you bust out your pitchforks and torches about Ruby just jumping out of cover, I have a reason for that!**

…

 **Moving onto the reviews…**

 **TheHermitoftheWeb: Xenomorphs and their acid blood, thanks for giving me the idea of a acid launcher! Anyways, I do plan on throwing in a few enemies from other Universes to mix things up.**

 **Dude 76: A White Fang resistance, eh? Already have plans for them, but there could be a faction trying to resist ADVENT from doing whatever they're doing to the people of Remnant so thank you for the idea.**


	4. Chapter 4: The Rabbit

"Velvet!" Ruby called out. The rabbit Faunus narrowed her brown eyes upon hearing her. She didn't consider Ruby an enemy, did she?!

"Welcome to Lead Restaurant! _"_ Johnson yelled as he and Spartan 1-8 let their weapons roar.

Ruby watched in horror as Velvet crossed her arms and brought her legs close together in a closed defensive posture much like a scared bunny. The bullets slammed into her yet bounced off as she held firm, shaking with each impact. Ruby threw herself between.

"Stop!" Ruby cried. Gallows shot a sympathetic glance and even stopped firing while the rest kept on unloading the bullets until clicks announced that the magazines were emptied of lead.

Velvet lowered her arms enough for her eyes to show as Spartan 1-8 hurriedly reloaded before she could retaliate. As they did, the Faunus crouched down into a spiriting pose and held out her right hand followed by a light projecting from her back. Lines made of light metalized, forming a sword that was a foot-and-a-half taller than her.

"Okay this is where I draw the line of bullshit." Johnson growled before Velvet hopping around, propelling herself around as her feet made contact with the rooftops causing Spartan 1-8 to shift their weapons around constantly as she closed the distance between her and them.

Ruby flinched fearfully every time the XCOM soldiers fired. She considered her options. Letting Velvet be killed was out of the question as already too many of her friends had died. That being one. She hoped.

She knew for a fact she was under alien mind control so could it be severed? She could try to talk Velvet out of it, but if it didn't work then she would have to contend with a brainwashed rabbit trying to slice her in half.

She would rather be whole, thank you very much!

" _Wait, if I had a chip in my head connected to a network, could that mean I was being mind controlled at some point?"_ Ruby thought. She didn't dwell on the horrible implications as she thought she had an idea at snapping Velvet out of it by getting rid of the chip or at least cutting the connection. Ruby just had to get someone with Psionics to do it and the only person she knew was Shepard. Which brought up the question if he was even willing to do it?

When Velvet was within striking range, Ruby leaped in front of her with her hand raised in a classic stop gesture.

"Velvet, stop!" Ruby pleaded.

For a second, Ruby thought she had gotten through to Velvet when she stopped and stared blankly at her like she was trying to remember who she was. Then Ruby felt steel crash into her left side erecting a pained cry as she flew to a metal wall and slammed onto it. She dropped to the floor feeling like her ribs had just been crushed into dust. Ruby also felt a lot colder indicating that her Aura had dropped down a lot, maybe half-way.

"Ruby!" Gallows yelled. "God dammit!"

"Shoot the bitch!" Another person shouted in panic as Ruby heard a crash and when she looked up she saw Velvet's sword had sliced the table Johnson and Drone Guy were behind. Thankfully the two were unharmed, but their eyes were glued to the blade like children to a TV.

Velvet effortlessly jerked the sword from the floor it was embedded in and raised it over her head to strike once more. Ruby cried out for her to stop, but it landed on deaf ears as the Faunus swung down onto Johnson's head.

"Nope!" Johnson said. He shoved his shotgun into Velvet's stomach and fired. Velvet formed an _oh crap_ face before being sent flying into a table behind her.

"Fire in the hole!" Someone shouted.

Ruby snapped her gaze to see the big man rise what appeared to be a grenade launcher.

"NO!"

Once again, it landed on deaf ears.

The man's launcher pushed back as a grenade zoomed in an arc to Velvet. Ruby panicked and was on the verge of launching herself in front of her to absorb the explosive. However, instead of a fireball of fiery death that a grenade usually brought, it exploded into a white mist entrapping Velvet in ice.

" _Yay, they captured her!"_ Ruby mentally cheered.

"Finish it!"

" _NO!"_

"Nighty, night!" Johnson grinned as he pumped his shotgun and leveled it at Velvet's head.

"Stop!" Ruby dashed between the barrel and Velvet. Johnson went wide eyed as he took a step back at her sudden appearance.

"What the hell?!" Johnson said.

"She's my friend!" Ruby explained and she thought she heard ice cracking.

"She's your frie-"

Ruby didn't catch what Johnson said next as something hard and flat smashed into her head. Pain exploded as she fell down to the ground on her right side and the world spun around.

For the next few moments, she only caught glimpses of what happened.

Johnson turning and running away as Velvet's blade stuck the floor.

Spartan 1-8's weapons roaring to life to stop her.

The rabbit charging headlong into the fire and tried to decapitate Johnson again.

The arrival of eight newcomers.

A mostly headless Viper slithering over Ruby and wrapping around Velvet from behind.

The last one tore Ruby from her spinning world and she jumped up as Velvet's face twisted and squirmed in agony at being crushed by the very same _dead_ Viper that tried to eat her.

How was it alive?!

"Crush it." A voice among the newcomers angrily commanded. The snake slightly nodded with its lower jaw which would have disgusted Ruby if it wasn't for the fact that her friend was about to be killed.

"Stop!"

Ruby's call attracted the attention of everyone whose hostile gaze momentarily stopped her in her tracks.

"Why should I?" A brown and gray haired man stepped from among the new arrivals. He towered over Ruby by two feet and stared down with furious, brown eyes.

"Because she wouldn't harm good people!"

"My best friend died cause of that _thing!"_

" _What_?" Ruby said dumbfoundedly. Velvet wouldn't kill anything unless it was a Grimm or a rogue robot! "She wouldn't!"

"And how the fuck would you know that?"

"Cause I'm her friend!"

That caused a few guns to be suddenly raised and cocked, all pointing at Ruby. She looked at each one of them, fear and hate in their eyes.

"Calm the fuck down people! Yes, Ruby here is from Remnant." Gallows stepped in-between Ruby and the man. His support earned all the weapons shifting to him.

"Xeno-lover!" Drone Guy spat. Ruby stared dumbfounded at him. The man that had offered his seat had pulled a one-eight and was glaring at her.

"Shut the hell up High King, but she isn't with the aliens. Maybe a little impulsive." Gallows glanced at Ruby, "But NOT with the aliens."

"And the fuck are we supposed to know that?"

"The Commander did the usual," Johnson said, "He cut off the connection between the chip and the network so if she was brainwashed, she isn't now."

" _Please,"_ Ruby begged, "I know that Velvet wouldn't harm someone because I know she's… kinda socially awkward..."

The man looked taken aback at the sincerity in her voice. Ruby meant it, but she didn't know what the man was going to do.

And after a long, painful minute of the man deciding Velvet's fate , he waved at the Viper who nodded and loosened its grip. Ruby could hear Velvet's strangled gasp for air.

"Get the fuck out of the way." the man growled.

"You are not going to hurt her!" Ruby growled back.

"Who the Hell said I would?"

Ruby blinked. If he wasn't going to harm her then what was he going to do? Could he be a person with Psionics(if rising the dead was considered an ability)?

She stepped to the side, allowing him to walk up to the still struggling Velvet who bared her teeth and snarled at him. However, the man was undeterred, even snarling back as he slapped his hands onto her temples and purple energy enveloped the area. Ruby also saw tendrils of energy rise from the man's eyes. Velvet began violently thrashing about, but stopped when the man pressed harder on her temples, holding her head in place.

The same procedure took place with a different result. Once the man released his grip, Velvet slumped and fell unconscious. The man then pointed out of Engineering and the zombie Viper unwrapped itself from her, slithering out into the desert probably to melt or something.

Ruby jumped forward to try and catch Velvet from hitting the floor, but she instead landed on it and became a pillow for the Faunus to land on. She let out a 'oomph' upon feeling Velvet's body crash onto her back and groaned. She was tiring of this physical abuse so she let out a sigh of relief when the weight was removed allowing her to get up into a sitting position.

"Hey!" Ruby said upon seeing Gallows roll Velvet onto her face and handcuff her.

"For safety!" He explained.

"But-"

"For safety!" He repeated.

It was clear that he was going to repeat the same thing no matter what Ruby said.

She did look at the man who helped her, but he stormed off and kneeled behind one of the overturned tables. Ruby, however, was indescribably grateful to him. She would have to thank him when she had the chance.

" _This is Reaper-Actual."_ Shepard shouted over gunfire," _Disrupter is disabled and we are running with Headhunters on us!"_

"Copy Reaper-Actual." Johnson responded, "Some nice reinforcements are inbound in the form of a Puppet Viper!"

" _Read you loud and clear, Commander. We already have the engines warmed up for takeoff."_ Shen reported.

" _Good!"_ Shepard responded in a somewhat cheery tone followed by a hiss. " _And a headless Viper just went past me towards the Headhunters so thanks whoever sent that! We are also closing in on the ramp!"_

"Also, we need to talk about the rabbit that has been harassing us for the last month."

" _What about it?_ " Shepard asked.

"We subdued it." Johnson replied.

"Then kill it!"

 **A/N:**

 **Betaread and edited by friggingnope**

 **I know this on the short side, but the next chapter is going to deal with Xenophobia and Ruby trying to fit in. Now forward unto the reviews!**

 **ninjamonkey: I've come to stick my sword in yooou, again.**

 **Wobbufet: Well, she's snapped out of it at least…**

 **HermitoftheWeb: Going to also try and include Shen's Last Gift when it comes out as well once I get my hands on it. Also, once again thank you for the suggestion with the Xenomorphs and the idea of the Acid Gun!**


	5. Chapter 5: Xenophobia

_"What? Well_ kill it! _"_

"Ruby here is also a alien," Johnson replied while Ruby frowned in dismay. Did they not realize that her friend was still at risk of dying!

 _"What?! I-we'll talk it about later! Just defend the Avenger!"_

"I'll give you a rundown of what happened then."

Ruby took a deep breath, relieved that the current issue had been solved. Several defenders casted glares at both her and Velvet causing Ruby to take a step closer to Velvet in order to shield the Faunus. Not caring that they silently took up defensive positions, Ruby stayed protectively close to Velvet in order to ensure that no one tried doing anything harmful to her.

The next ten minutes seem to drag on forever, which left Ruby thinking about what the man had said as well as the possibility of herself being mind controlled. She shivered with fright at what might have happened during that time. What did she do? Was she just stuck floating in a tube of goo all that time or did she…

 _"Nope, not going there!"_ Ruby stopped herself. She decided to instead think of any questions she might have to ask such as how long ago was Remnant invaded.

After ten minutes of tense, thunderous sounds of war, Shepard and the others hobbled and limped into Engineering. Ruby could see their armor was charred and had spots of black dotting them. They were in varying states of injury ranging from Shepard holding his right shoulder to a woman hauling a man on her back. Ruby also noticed one man hadn't returned.

"Where's Feda?" A middle-aged man from Diamond asked.

"Headhunters got him." Shepard impassively replied.

The man deeply sighed and went back to moving his weapons from side to side incase anymore ADVENT goons tried rushing them. Although how unlikely that would have been, still, the possibility was still there.

 _"Commander, is everyone onboard?"_ Bradford asked over comms. Shepard turned around, grunting, and his head bounced up and down slightly while slowly turning as he made a headcount.

"Everyone's here except for Feda, bastards got him." The Commander replied.

 _"Got it, everyone get ready for takeoff!"_

Ruby felt the floor rumble and the tables fruitlessly trying to shake off their contents as the roar of the Avenger's engines and the clanking of the ramp reverberated throughout Engineering. When the final clanks announced the ramp had locked into place, Shepard turned to Johnson.

"What happened?"

"Bunny here tried cutting us, but Ruby kept getting in both of our ways. It wasn't till Alec cut off the connection that she went nighty-night."

"Alec, does she have a chip?" Alec nodded as a response.

"Alright," Shepard said and then held up a finger to his, "Hygeia, we're going to need a stretcher with restraints. We've captured a Hunter."

"You can't be fucking serious sir! What if that thing wakes up and tries to kill us all!" Someone yelled.

"She won't!" Ruby protested.

"Stow it, it's going to be guarded at all times so if it wakes up and attempts to kill anyone, the guards'll take it out if she does try."

Ruby sighed in relief. At least they weren't going to harm Velvet. Though she was still worried about her. Hopefully they would be able to get the chip out of her head as well.

"Gallows, Johnson, you're on guard duty 'till it gets to the AWC."

"Yes sir!" They both replied.

After that, Ruby heard a door hiss open and turned to see people clad in white uniforms wheeling in medical equipment. Two people carrying a stretcher broke off from the group and headed in Velvet's general direction. She watched with worry as they placed it down next to the Rabbit Faunus and slid her onto it. They then replaced the cuffs with leather restraints before heading off to what she presumed to be the medical center with the injured.

Shepard, however, waved off the medical personnel despite his injuries.

"Ruby, you stay here, rest of you go." He commanded and they left without protest. Some did give him concerned glances and threatening glares at Ruby.

When the last person left, Ruby stepped near Shepard who had taken a seat on a table.

"You okay?" Ruby asked. He was still gripping his shoulder and despite not seeing any blood or armor penetration, she was still concerned at the possibility of wounds.

"Armor may protect from bullets, but not pain. Anyways, you have questions, I have questions. This could benefit us both."

"I don't remember anything during my captivity," Ruby said. She really didn't remember anything after blacking out.

Shepard sighed." Well, shit. Although we can at least learn about your people's capabilities. So first question, Johnson mentioned you pulled a disappearing act. How?"

"It's my Semblance. My...power, you could say. It allows me to go really fast and leave rose petals behind. Now for my question! How long ago was Remnant conquered?"

"One year, seven months before I was recovered." Shepard replied with a sorrowful sigh.

One year… one year of her life gone.

"What species was that creature?"

Ruby frowned. "Velvet is a she and she is a Faunus! They're already getting enough discrimination as it is on my world!"

"Sorry. So Velvet is a Faunus?" Shepard gently rubbed his shoulder wound.

Ruby nodded."Yeah, and what's ADVENT's goal?"

"We don't know. As far as we know, they're harvesting humans for something. The Ethereals have disappeared since the first Blacksite went up so it might be related to them." There was a small hint of frustration in the Commander's Voice.

"Ethereals?" Now that sounded like something straight from a fantasy novel.

"Elders, Ethereals, whatever their name is, those guys are the true leaders of ADVENT. Ever since the aliens invaded Earth, the Ethereals were there, ever since ADVENT was formed and went on its conquering spree, those bastards were there too. They just stop appearing altogether. Their words are spoken through the Speaker, who basically is just shoving propaganda down people's throats. Only way we can actually get the truth though is to spread it as best we can. I think Tygan and Shen have an idea, but nothing concrete yet."

 _"That goes on my growing list of Things to Avoid or Suffer Horrible Consequences,"_ Ruby thought.

"What's the deal with people from Remnant?"

"Well, we have Aura which is a manifestation of one's soul. It acts like a guardian angel and our Semblances are tied to it. Those are abilities linked to one's personality like my speed! It's also how I didn't sustain any injuries during the fight."

"That's useful. At least we have a name now."

"Yep! Now what are Psionics?" After hearing that, Shepard lifted his free hand and suddenly, a vortex of swirling blue energy formed in his palm. Ruby's ears picked up a shrill coming from it.

"Psionics are a type of energy. We don't know what it is exactly, but from what the reports suggest are that any sentient beings are capable of using it, you know, humans and aliens. It's just a matter of how. Using too much, though, can cause some horrid side effects ranging from simple headaches to even death and we also discovered ADVENT has conducted experiments involving plants." He explained.

"So I can use it? And anybody can use it?" Ruby asked. That was both exciting and disconcerting, she could have awesome powers from her mind, which was cool, what wasn't cool was that everyone else can have it and potentially use it for less purposes that range from pretty good to horrifically bad.

"As far as we know, the aliens are ten times better at using it than us, but since we humans are more tenacious than those aliens, we'll someday get on their level." Shepard chuckled after he said that.

"That's good to know." Ruby brightly smiled.

"Commander to Geo, Commander to Geo." The robotic female voice droned over the PA system.

"I'll call you up when I have some free time. For now, head towards the AWC for a medical checkup." Shepard stood up, and started heading for the exit.

"Uh, where is that?" The Commander stopped and turned around.

"Floor just below the Geoscape, there's a plate with its name, Advanced Warfare Center, above the door." Shepard said then headed out the door.

Advanced Warfare Center, that didn't sound like a hospital whatsoever. Maybe it was a combination of another facility?

Whatever it was, Ruby left Engineering and walked through the industrial-like halls of the giant ship.

Without anything to distract her, Ruby's mind began to wander. It had been one year since Remnant was conquered and much could change in that time. Was her family and friends alright? What was the situation at Vale? How was ADVENT dealing with the Grimm? Dreadful questions filled her mind with few comforting answers. Although imagining ADVENT get devoured by Grimm was slightly amusing.

And as she walked, Ruby thought about what the V.K. said.

 _"So you're the little girl Uber was talking about."_

He sounded so disappointed as if he was expecting some grand warrior to fight. From her understanding of language, Uber was a name given to a leader of sorts, possibly the leader of ADVENT? Combined with her 'silver-eyed powers', which she still didn't understand how it worked, that led Ruby to believe they were planning to do something with her. Using her as a weapon against the Grimm seemed logical, but if so, how did they know about her status of 'Great Warrior'?

They might have been studying Remnant for a long time.

That would be disturbing. It would also explain how they causally slaughter a horde of Grimm.

No matter, she was here now and with a familiar face. Ruby couldn't describe the joy she was feeling to have that in a hostile, alien world, well, mostly hostile. 98.4% Hostile to be exact. Stress the importance of the point-four percent.

But that also brought up a new question. Didn't the aliens of ADVENT have their own worlds?

Again, so many questions, so few answers.

And as she walked through the halls, she past four soldiers from Diamond.,Ruby's neck hairs bristled at the sound of their rapidly approaching footfalls. Just what were they-

"YOU!"

Ruby stopped dead in her tracks as her eardrums nearly exploded by the force of the shout behind her..

"JUST WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING!?" She flinched as each word had the force of a charging Ursi that can shoot lasers from its eyes.

"What are you talking about!?" Ruby yelled back as she turned to whoever just shouted at her.

"THE ALIEN!" The man who was yelling this entire time was tiny, even shorter than her. He only came up to her waist and yet his booming voice was fit for a large, well-built drill sergeant. His brown eyes stared poisoned-dripped daggers and he bared his yellowing teeth as if he was threatening to bite her.

"Wha-Her name's Velvet!" She argued back with the dwarf.

"We don't give a damn! That thing is going to kill us!" The dwarf retorted.

"She's not a thing and she wouldn't harm anyone!"

"Oh, sure she wouldn't harm anyone, like our friend!" Another guy with the dwarf said.

"She was brainwashed!"

"And its chip hasn't been removed, like yours if I recall so at any moment, ADVENT could reconnect to it and do you know what will happen next?" A different person said.

Ruby opened her mouth to protest, but the dwarf held up a finger. "You two will kill us all."

"And you should also know that has yet to happen." Ruby heard the new voice belonging to a woman answer from behind her.

"Chief Shen!" The dwarf saluted. Ruby looked behind to see the woman from the Geoscape standing with her arms crossed. One of the drones hovered near her.

"Why don't you all just leave? It's not like she's bothering anyone."

"Yet." Ruby heard the snide remark and turned to frown at the man. He and the others walked away, ignoring her.

"Ruby, is it?" Ruby nodded.

"What's their problem?" She asked.

"They're scared, like a lot of us and our people are dying or disappearing so they're just acting out in anger. Name's Lily Shen by the way." The now identified as Lily Shen said.

"Oh, nice to meet you, Lily!" Ruby said and did a small salute.

"Nice to meet you too, Ruby. Anyways, I keep requesting we have Gremlins patrol the Avenger so when ADVENT comes near, zap." Shen snapped her fingers, and the drone beside her sparked a little as an example. "But the Commander thinks that causing more pain will only anger the troops and lead them to vent it in other ways such as acquiring 'illegal magazines'. Yeah Shepard, it's not like you have those stashed away," Lily rolled her eyes.

Ruby wasn't even going to ask. Given some of XCOM's behavior, she had a good idea of what it was.

"So the Gremlins are those floating robots?" Ruby said. She pointed to the one Shen had.

"Yep, this one is called Rover."

'Rover' flew between them, facing Ruby, and actually blinked with two pairs of thin metal pieces that functioned as eyelids. It then zoomed back into its original hovering position.

"So, where are you heading?"

"The AWC."

"Alright, I'll go with you, make sure you don't run into anymore problems. Besides, I gotta make sure Tygan isn't harassing the medical team to run tests on your friend." Lily sighed.

"What kinds of tests?" Ruby asked, somehwat concerned.

"Don't know, never had a live alien on board." Shen shrugged as she said that. The both of them walked side by side to the AWC. "But I'm sure Tygan will do the standard stuff, blood samples, physical tests, and whatever else involved in research."

"That's good to hear! Also, who's Tygan?"

"Oh, sorry. Tygan, former ADVENT scientist, now our head of research. He also boasts about performing surgery on himself to remove the chip. "

"He performed surgery on himself?" Ruby blinked.

"Without anesthetic or a mirror. Don't ask about the details." She noticed that Lily shuddered a little. Ruby winced. That must have been messy and painful.

"If you also see him poking his nose where he shouldn't be, let me know right away."

"He's the head of research so shouldn't he basically go anywhere he wants to?"

"Used too, he's barred from entering the bar after making Kelly drink too much and falsely saying she's the daughter of Shepard and Vahlen. He banned Tygan after that, while red-faced."

"Wow." Ruby chuckled, "But who's Vahlen?"

"Ah, Miss Butcher of Aliens, used to be the former head of research, don't know where she is now, but what I do know is that she was...er, pretty...erm, brutal in her autopsies. It isn't pretty after she's done with a corpse. Heh, dad used to tell me that. She's also the one to thank for the Alien Rulers like the V.K.. They grew up to be such grateful brats."

"Miss Butcher of Aliens, a scientist, and also responsible for Snake-Weiss. Sounds like a mad scientist."

"She and my dad argued a lot when it came down to the alien tech. Vahlen thought it could be used further human evolution, but my dad believed we should use it cautiously because if left unrestrained, we would end up like the aliens."

"Your dad worked for XCOM?"

"Yeah, back when ADVENT didn't exist, twenty years ago I think. I was just a child when he joined. He secured the Avenger with a squad after the council of countries all gave up. And for the rest of his life, he's dedicated himself to this ship. You can probably see where this is going." Shen closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Ruby said. Even though her own mother died, she didn't know enough about her to feel any sorrow and relate to Lily. The only memories of Summer were fragmented smiles, the faint smell of cookies, and the white cloak, but that didn't mean Ruby hadn't felt any emotions for her. In fact, she somewhat resented her for dying. It caused her father to sink into a depression and nearly got her and Yang killed when big sis tried to find Raven.

"Don't apologize." Lily said as she crossed her arms and they entered the Research Labs. A few scientists glanced to their direction and waved in varied hand gestures before returning back to their work. The two then climbed up a flight of stairs into another hallway passing by people. Most didn't pay any attention to them instead being fully absorbed in passing gossip, reading, or some mundane task. A couple of people greeted them with head nods or waving hands.

They reached the AWC door where two guards stood, blocking the way. Beyond the door, muffled screaming made its way into the hall making Ruby wonder what was going on. She watched as Shen held out a card and the left guard shook her head.

"Sorry Lily, but Hygeia forbids anyone from entering the AWC unless it's an emergency."

Shen raised a eyebrow. "What's going on in there?"

"Something with the rabbit girl. As soon as she woke up, she started thrashing about and we were told to stop anyone from entering."

 _"I thought Alec cut off the connection!"_ Ruby's mind exploded.

"Shouldn't you be in there then?"

"Gallows and Johnson are in."

Before another word was spoken, the doors slid open and out stepped Hygeia. She took a step back, eyes widened as if she wasn't expecting to see either Ruby or Shen, or perhaps both. However, the doctor recovered a moment later signaled by her pupils dilating back to normal.

"Ah, Ruby, you're here! We need you to help out with the Hunter."

"Is Velvet alright?!" Ruby frantically asked.

"Soon, hopefully. Come on." Hygeia gestured for her to come in.

With that, Hygeia stepped back in and the two guards stepped out of her way. Ruby followed her to see a thrashing Velvet strapped down to a blue-sheeted hospital bed, screaming incomprehensible things. On either side were Gallows and Johnson with weapons pointed at the Faunus' head while four people struggled to hold down her flailing limbs.

"Velvet!" Ruby shouted and rushed over in hopes of calming her friend.

Edited and betaread by frigginnope.

 **A/N: Well, it's been over a month since I last updated this. Sorry, but I suffered Writer's Block and tried to clear that with another story. Got a little carried away with that… anyways here's a predictable cliffhanger as a way to say I'm sorry!**

 **Also, please note school is going to start in a couple of days which will make updates harder to do. I'll attempt to work on it a few minutes a day. Another thing to note is that I'm rotating between the two stories now. Once a chapter is done for one story, I write the next chapter for the other. Now, onwards to the reviews!**

 **Guest: Thanks!**

 **ninjamonkey3904: I'm really drawing this out am I? Don't worry, Vel is safe for now(physically at least, not sure mentally)!**

 **Team Wingless: Thanks for the recommendation, but I always attempt to strike a balance between paragraphs being too long or too short.**


	6. Chapter 6: Reassignment

Chapter 6: Reassignment

"Velvet!" Ruby shouted as she rushed towards her screaming friend's side. One of the doctors or nurses, Ruby couldn't tell, lifted his hand up in the typical stop gesture while using his other one to try and hold down the Faunus' thrashing right arm.

"I'm sorry Miss, but for everyone's-"

"Let her talk to her friend," Hygeia said as she stepped beside Ruby," it could help calm her down."

The man's eyebrows furrowed and he subsequently frowned.

"And what happens if it doesn't work?"

"Then we'll sedate her," Hygeia then turned to Ruby, "do you think you can get her to calm down?"

"Yes!" Ruby said, almost pleadingly so. She was already feeling her stomach twisting itself into a knot over the state of panic Velvet was in.

Hygeia nodded and Ruby went straight to the head-end of the bed. Johnson took a step back, giving her room, but she could sense that his shotgun was hovering over her shoulder, the knowledge distracted her. She knew that the sergeant wouldn't shoot yet having the weapon so close made her instincts scream at Ruby to push it away. Her mind, however, shoved them away as it tried to think of something to say.

"Velvet!" Ruby said the first thing that came to her mind.

Velvet's head snapped to face Ruby and her brown eyes widened.

"Ruby?!"

Ruby internally smiled. She would be calm soon!

"GET OUT OF HERE!"

Ruby winced from the sonic impact.

"THEY'LL GET YOU!"

Ok, maybe she won't be calm right away.

"Velvet, you're safe now!" Ruby said, "They're not here to get you or me! We're among friends! Good guys!"

"Wh-what?" Velvet paused. "F-Friends?"

The Faunus' eyes darted around, taking in her surroundings and her flailing lessened till it stopped. She took shallow, rapid breaths and her eyes were still disk-like, but at least she wasn't struggling anymore. The white-clad people backed off though Ruby saw them shift into a subtle grabbing stance, likely in case Velvet started thrashing about again.

"If we're safe, then why are people pointing guns at my head?"

"In case you try and decapitate us like Ruby earlier," Johnson answered..

"Wha-what?! I would never do that!"

"Eh, eh, eh," Ruby twiddled her thumbs.

"I… did?" Velvet stared Ruby in confusion.

"You were brainwashed, but don't worry, it's gone now!"

"Not completely," Hygeia said, "there's still the possibility that ADVENT could reconnect the chips to the network and we're back at square one. Extracting both of yours is an immediate concern."

" _Whhhhyyy?! Why is everything so complicated!?"_ Ruby thought. One thing after another. Ever since waking up, there has been little reprieve. First unusual black armored soldiers tried turning her into swiss cheese, then she finds out she's on a different planet, and the by the time she can even comprehend the situation, she's fighting Snake-Weiss and Velvet, and now she discovers that at any moment, ADVENT could retake control of either her or Velvet.

"You can release her now," Hygeia ordered, "Johnson, Gallows, your presence is still needed, Ruby, Velvet, follow me once you're ready."

The medical staff looked at each other as if waiting for one brave enough to unstrap the restraints. Several moments passed and Ruby frowned. If they weren't going to do it, then she would do it herself. After the thought occurred in her head, her hands immediately went for the restraints.

Main problem was, she had no idea how to undo them and instead stared blankly at them.

"Out of the way," Hygeia said as she placed her hands on Ruby's shoulders and carefully moved her to the side before going to undo the restraints.

"Thanks," Velvet said as she rubbed her wrists, "I'm still confused as to what's going on though."

"Aliens," Ruby replied.

"Aliens?" The rabbit Faunus face turned into the biggest _what-the-fuck-did-you-just-say_ expression that has ever appeared on Earth.

"Yep. The 'I want to dominate your world' kind', not the 'I come in peace, let us be friends'."

"To properly explain," Hygeia said, "Nearly a hundred years ago, a collective of aliens, now know as ADVENT, launched multiple attacks on Germany." She then into detail about how the entire debacle on Earth happened. It only clarified Ruby's meager knowledge, but Velvet was horrified that even with an entire planet's military might, they were forced to surrender within a few months.

"I-that's-how?"

By now Velvet had gotten herself upright. The medics had gone off to assist the ones treating the injured. Johnson and Gallows, still battle-weary, constantly shifted their weapons as if Velvet would go on a murderous rampage again.

"They had terror operations, the causalities of which were absurdly high. Thousands dead, billions of dollars gone. It was simply too straining and despite XCOM's successes, the UN decided to throw their arms in the air and give up. Now we're stuck fighting a uphill war. A very steep hill at that too.."

"And it's been a year since Remnant was conquered?" Velvet asked, getting a nod from Hygeia as an answer. "Then how come I don't remember anything?"

"The theory is that the chips can block memory formation, somehow.."

"Vel, what was the last thing you _do_ remember?" Ruby asked. She was desperate to know what happened to Vale, to know the fate of her friends.

"Well, it was around spring time," right around when Ruby and JNR - as she liked to call it, RNJR, got to Mistral, "when reports of UFOs landings flooded in. Tension were still high and to ease it, the Council decided to send out some soldiers to investigate it. When they didn't report back, Hunters got sent out."

"Hm," Hygeia wrapped two fingers around her chin, "sounds like the typical strategy ADVENT uses. Nothing new there."

"Sorry. Anyways, me and my team were dispatched to locate a squad and when we got there…" Ruby saw Velvet shiver. "They were near a disk-like object. The soldiers weren't holding any of their weapons and they stumbled about like zombies. Coco called out to them and when they turned, their eyes were glowing purple. Some didn't even have a face! Just skulls!"

Ruby felt her stomach squeeze as the image of a purple-eyed skull passed through her mind's eye.

"The next thing we knew, a giant _ball_ thing came rushing out and started firing lasers at us. We tried to fight, but several, uh, naked creatures popped out of the nearby disk. The fight also drew Grimm, nothing serious, but we were surrounded. Some of the creatures managed to slip by the circle we formed and one directed its attention to me. Seeing its own glowing purple eyes caused me to black out and the next thing I know, I'm strapped down to a table like some kind of lab rat!"

"Sectoids. Most likely used Mind Control to ensure they captured you without harm, though I'm not sure about the ball thing," came a voice from the door.

Everyone turned their gaze to the entrance as Shepard walked in. Johnson and Gallows saluted.

"At ease," he said and their hands hastily went back to their weapons. "Shepard, Commander of XCOM." He held out his hand towards Velvet. She timidly took it, still recovering from the shock.

"I came here to ask you something," he said once both hands detached, "as seeing we're in the same boat, would you like to join XCOM?"

"Commander! You can't be serious! One of them doesn't even look like she's eighteen yet!" Hygeia barked, earning an annoyed sideway glance.

"I know that, but you've seen what an ADVENT Class Hunter can do and it's also why I'm asking them."

"I'm joining!" Ruby stated.

"Uh, Ruby, you could die a horrible death, but you know, you can still join..." Gallows looked at her with raised eyebrows while his voice gradually became quieter and quieter.

"Yes she could, Greenhorn! Death from strangulation, burning acid, becoming a meal, kissing a Berserker's fist, or one of the mundane ways like fire!" Johnson said.

"Errr," was all Ruby could say. She didn't want to be choked, or dissolved, or any one of those ways. However, she was a Huntress! She couldn't let any more innocents die!."My Aura will protect me!" Ruby responded, pointing a finger up into the air.

"Surprisingly Psionics can do well against Aura, as our second encounter with a Hunter can attest too." Shepard rebutted.

"Uh..." Ruby's finger drooped, before her mouth turned into a flat line, blanching as she thought of ways to convince these people to let her in.

"I'll join," Velvet said, "I might die, but I gotta do something right?"

"Yes you could, but as much as I don't want to think this is a good idea, that Aura of yours will be handy. Even the Informant thinks it's a good idea."

"So it was his idea?" Hygeia asked.

"Yes," Shepard replied and then he saw the confused expressions on the Huntresses, "the Informant is our man inside ADVENT, delivering any Intel about their operations."

"Can he help us find our friends?" Ruby asked, putting her two hands together beneath her chin and silver eyes shining with hope.

"Unlikely, he's in the upper echelons and as a result, in constant danger, but I can ask if he can."

Ruby's shoulders slumped, bringing her hands down and the hopeful eyes dimmed slightly.

"Okay...that'd work too..." she replied sadly. While it was unfortunate that the Informant probably couldn't help them, they could still come across the others out in the field or when they win, XCOM could attempt to locate them with their fancy gadgets.

"Alright, Hygeia, is there anything else?" Shepard shot a glance towards Hygeia.

"Yes Commander, I strongly disagree we should send these two out."

"Hygeia, they've made their choice and now they have to weather whatever comes their way. Don't worry, though, they'll go through training."

Hygeia sighed, in defeat or frustration, Ruby didn't know.

"You're not going to give up?" A nod. "Fine, there's still the medical examination."

"Good, that'll give me time to set up everything."

And with that, Shepard turned to leave and Hygeia gestured towards the back of the AWC. The two followed her, Ruby helping Velvet who was still recovering from the fight. As they made their way, she could see glares and confused stares look upon them, silently asking the question of _why isn't that fucking rabbit dead?_

Or maybe the stares were directed at Velvet's ears.

Whatever the case was, Ruby felt her friend shiver. The Faunus' eyes nervously darted around. Ruby gently patted her arm in an attempt to calm herself down. It was of little effect, but hey, it's the thought that counts, right?

Eventually they entered a room filled with various machines and tools that none of the two Huntresses knew a thing about. All of them were futuristic and eye-pleasing in design, putting Remnant's own to shame.

And the medical examination began. It started first with Hygeia yanking out the chips and placing them in a plastic bin. The extraction was not comfortable despite anesthesia being applied to the area. Having a foreign, metal object poke around inside her head made Ruby want to slap it away more than once. Velvet was no better.

And after nearly a day of checking, probing, and asking questions about their medical history, Hygeia allowed them to go under the watchful eyes of Gallows and Johnson who had patiently waited by the door for them. Guessing from their laughing, they must have passed the time with some good jokes, hopefully not ones about them.

During the checkup, Shepard found a place for them to stay. Their new home, however, wasn't with the others. Instead, it was a place that was recently cleared out for anything useful and had now been chosen to serve as their new living quarters, much to their distaste.

"It's to prevent people from trying anything funny," Shepard said, "and to better integrate you two into XCOM since Velvet has… already gotten on the bad side of the troops." He sighed. "I have a meeting with the head staff to know how you two are going to work with us."

He then left the two by themselves inside the barren room. The only furniture they had were a duo of cots that only had the bare necessities, a thin blanket and pillow, along with a mattress of course. When Ruby climbed into it, the layer of fabric holding her up wasn't pleasant. It wasn't rock-hard, but what she would give to have her Beowolf-styled sleeping bag with her right now.

Still, it beats sleeping on the metal floor and her tired, aching body plus worn out mind begged for sleep so she slowly drifted into a dreamless slumber. Ruby didn't know if Velvet would do the same, but hey, at least she wasn't alone.

"RISE AND SHINE, KIDDIES!"

"Gah!" Ruby yelled, waking up to the loud, rhythmic blast of a bugle. Her hands slapped over her ears to block out the sound and looking at the source, she saw Gallows playing the instrument and Johnson standing next to him holding a see through box of… action figures?

"AHHH!"

Ruby heard Velvet scream and a crash. A glance revealed the rabbit had rolled out of the cot and engaged in a fierce struggle with the blanket that had wrapped around her body.

When the bugle finally stopped and lowered, Ruby removed her hands just in time to hear someone yell, "IT'S ONLY FOUR IN THE MORNING JOHNSON!"

" _Ugh, why are they waking us up so early?!"_ Ruby mentally groaned. She shoved her head back into the pillows, desperately pushing her mind back into slumber.

Ruby stiffened when she heard the dreadful sound of boots stomping over to her.

"Wakey wakey!" Johnson shouted.

"No! I wanna sleep!"

"WAKE UP OTHERWISE THE FLOOR WILL DO IT FOR YOU!" Johnson screamed _right_ into Ruby's ears causing her to jolt out of the cot and proceed to fall on the floor. She let out an 'oomph!' upon landing on her side and feeling her organs shift inward to absorb the impact.

Ruby sat up, legs crossed, and rubbed a hand against her temple. She tiredly stared up at Johnson's baggy eyes.

Has he stayed up all night just for this?

"Huh, the floor did it for you anways, but you're awake now, what do you want for breakfast?"

"Why are you waking us up at four?" Velvet asked, throwing the blanket back onto the cot, apparently victorious in her struggle.

"You had the luxury of sleeping. We did not. There were at least two fucking instances where a Strike-Diamond member attempted to blow you up with a grenade," Gallows stated, Ruby also saw that he too had baggy eyes.

"W-what?" Velvet said, her body slightly trembling.

"The culprits are facing disciplinary actions and they can't get anywhere near this room so we were posted here _all fucking night_ because everyone else didn't want to be anywhere near the 'aliens', to put it lightly. "

"Oh, uh, thanks."

"Uh, you're welcomed?" Gallows responded sheepishly.

"Anyways, since somebody had a revenge itch, we're starting your training before everyone wakes up," Johnson said, "which will be at four, every morning, till people aren't so trigger happy with you two! Anyways, let's get to the cafeteria."

"Yay! I'm starving!" Ruby said, her stomach growling and Velvet nodding in agreement.

"We can also use this time to teach you about the different units ADVENT uses."

"Alright, Ruby, Velvet, keep quiet, my peeps have a hair-thin trigger when they're sleep deprived," Gallows warned.

Ruby and Velvet nodded. The XCOM troops had already proven how volatile they were and the two did not want to see what happens when they get pulled out of bed.

And thus the group of four dragged themselves out of the room and headed towards the cafeteria. After a short journey, Ruby and the others entered the eating area. Her nostrils flared upon being hit with a pleasant aroma. Her mind wanted to find out what could make such an addictive smell. Guessing from Velvet's smile, it was affecting her as well.

She looked around the area. Unlike the scent, it was rudimentary. There were only semi-comfortable looking, plastic chairs and small, round tables. The kitchen area looked more like a home one instead of being similar to a restaurant or Beacon's own impressive cooking room.

And despite its basic appearance, it appeared more futuristic - like everything in this ship. The chairs and tables were so sleek, Ruby swore she could see her reflection as she passed by one. The kitchen had cabinets made out of glossy glass and the white-snow oven appeared perfect, not a single blemish or mark on it, as far as she could tell.

Oddly, though, there weren't any refrigerators. Did they make them smaller?

That was answered when Gallows opened up one of the cabinets and cool air seeped into the room.

"Johnson, we're gonna need more milk soon!" Gallows said as he stuck his hand into the cabinet and pulled out a half-filled milk jug.

"I'm well aware of that, Greenhorn." Johnson responded. The Sergeant was hugging three colorful cereal boxes their names being Frosty Flakes, Cocoa Puffs, and Fruity Pebbles, having dropped the box somewhere. "We're going to have to do some grocery shopping soon!"

"Market's next week, right?" Gallows asked before rotating his head to Ruby and Velvet, "and girls, just pick a seat. We'll be a moment."

The two turned and saw a nearby table that they thought was perfect. It had only four chairs and was just sitting right there next to them. Ruby immediately went to it, pulled out a chair, and sat down. Unsurprisingly, it was hard like the previous plastic seats she sat on yet as each second passed, it became softer as if the chair itself took on her form.

Was it similar to the memory foam used in her boots? If so, _how?!_ How was XCOM even able to have this stuff?

"I have a question," Velvet asked as Gallows and Johnson approached the table with the cereal, milk, bowls, and spoons.

"Alright, ask away, Fluffy Bunny." Johnson nodded.

"Please don't call me that," Velvet frowned, "but, a lot of this stuff seems complex. How were you able to obtain it?"

"We looted the shit out of stores!" Gallows answered.

"That's stealing!" Ruby squealed in horror.

"We're still breaking the law by kicking alien ass!" Johnson growled.

"To clarify, we're rebels, XCOM can't exactly walk into a store and say, 'hey, can we buy this AND put your life on the line for it?'"

"But you're the good guys..." Ruby said in a quiet, broken voice.

"Back in my day," Johnson began as he sat down.

"And off he goes," Gallows muttered, placing a balled hand under his chin and rolled his eyes.

"We were the good guys! The aliens invaded and we gathered the badasses of each nation's army to send them packing! We did it too, using only hot lead and fiery determination! Because of that, Mr Big Bad alien became a sore loser and started Terror Ops eventually leading to our surrender! Now the world sees us as murdering, thieving scumbags because we're still fighting the good fight!"

"Ruby, we're not the best of people. Yes, our cause is noble, but ultimately without large support, like from a nation, we're forced to break the rules to acquire the resources we need and not spending precious time doing it lawfully. And even if we do barter with other rebels, chances are it's gonna be stolen or blown up," Gallows explained.

"Well, we just gotta win so you don't have to steal anymore!" Ruby smiled.

"Huh, I was expecting some half-assed, self-righteous reason not to steal. Wasn't expecting, well, _that_." Gallows rubbed the back of his head, his conscience scolding him for thinking that.

"Oh, it's alright!" Ruby waved her right hand up and down expressing that she didn't think negatively of what he said.

"Any other questions?" Johnson asked. A couple of moments went by with no one saying a word. "Then we're gonna show you the bastards you'll be putting to an eternal sleep!"

With that, Johnson got back up and walked to the transparent box that was placed in front of the oven while the Huntresses and Gallows poured their milk and cereal into their bowls. When Johnson returned, he let the box land on the table causing it to shudder and after opening it, he took out figures in the shape of what Ruby presumed to be the aliens and ADVENT. She recognized two of the human ones and the Viper. Seeing them, Ruby felt disgusted. It was clear that ADVENT was trying to show themselves as the heroes, trying to hide the horrors they've committed.

"So, what are the action figures for?" Velvet asked as she took a spoonful of cereal and ate it.

"They're training assets!" Johnson quickly responded.

"Limited edition assets. Gallows pointed a spoon at him.

"Whose are they?" Ruby asked as she too ate the cereal. Unlike the marvels of the kitchen and the cafeteria, it just tasted like generic cereal.

"We are starting _now!"_ Johnson barked and sat the first one upright. It was a Human, clad in black armor and without the red cape. "This is the Trooper, the cannon fodder of ADVENT. They were Human once, but tempted by ADVENT's sweet lies, they were injected with a healthy dose of alien genes making them look like Voldemort!"

He then took out a photo from his right hip pocket and showed it to the girls. The face on it was...ugly. Its skin was shriveled up, tanish face and had a snake-like nose. Its eyes were also closed, preventing them from seeing if some remnant of Humanity remained. Ruby had thought the masks were for protection, but it was also a convenient excuse to hide their startling appearance.

"This is one of the prettier faces of ADVENT you'll see!" Johnson quipped, placing the photo back. "Now for combat capabilities, they're easy to deal with. Put a couple bullets into their skulls and be done with it. Still, they're dangerous in groups, do not easily panic, and will attempt to flank when possible. Their obedience is what makes them an easy target. Also, they like grenades to remove cover and disperse people. Moving onto the ADVENT Officer."

Johnson then flicked the Trooper toy down and slammed one that looked exactly the same but had red armor and cool red cape in it's place..

"The officers aren't much tougher than the Troopers themselves, but they are smarter, can mark a person for death, have better aim, and still carry grenades. Now, jacking their skulls, of which we will get to at a later date, grants you access to their network. Same goes for any other, but pull any data out quickly before you get electrified, also, be careful for the Codex that appears after you, well, hack their network, we will explain that at a later time too. Moving onto the Lancers…"

Johnson didn't sound so thrilled on that word.

He knocked the Officer down with the figure of the Lancer. This one wore a skin-tight suit with little armor and had a helmet similar to a futuristic motorcycle helmet. It held a menacing spiked 'baton' in its left hand.

"Lancers prefer just to run up and poke you with an electrified baton rather than smartly shoot you from a distance earning the nickname 'Psycho Runner'. If you get hit, you could drop to the ground, out cold in which case the Lancer will merrily pummel you to death. At least they'll be too preoccupied with that so them getting shot is your best chance at survival. Now we go on to everyone's least favorite alien, the Sectoid."

The Lancer was then lifted up and a naked, veiny, gray-skinned Humanoid that was way too thin to be healthy took its place. The alien figure's soulless, blue eyes stared at Ruby and she shuddered at the uncanny, lipless mouth.

"I remember when they were nothing more than the stereotypical, midget grays! Back then, we just had to worry about their Mind Merge. Now we have to deal with Mind Control, panic attacks, and reviving the dead."

"Whaaaat?" Ruby narrowed her eyes, she didn't believe that last part.

"You heard right, they're can revive the dead! One isn't bad, but five or six is just bad news. Killing the Sectoid that revive the dead will cause all of the zombies to poof into a blue mist. It can also disorient, so if you start feeling lightheaded and have blurry vision, double-check where you're shooting. I don't feel like being shot in the ass again. Another stupid ability it has is to panic people. If you have the urge to run, beat it down. If you're overwhelmed by it, well, make sure you're nearby some friends so you don't meet the Lord before this war is over. It can mind control you as well. There isn't much you can do other than pray that the Sectoid controlling you is killed. Finally, it has its plasma pistol so keep your head down when you see green blobs if you don't want your skull melting into goop."

Velvet's hands went up to her head and started patting it as if making sure it was still there.

"And moving onto everyone's favorite, the Viper," Johnson said, placing an action figure of the snake-like creature next to the Sectoid, "do not mistake the chest bumps for breasts, those are _'venom sacks'_ used to spit out a cloud of poisonous gas. If you happen to breath it in, the effects aren't pleasant. It's a neurotoxin, meaning the poison will attack the nervous system. If you're lucky, you or a friend might have a handy medkit to temporarily halt the progression. However, you're going to need medical intervention. The Vipers can also dodge bullets! The eggheads think it has something to do with the alien genetic engineering, but it makes hitting them a lot harder. The best way is a grenade, after all you can't dodge shrapnel traveling at thousands of feet per second in all directions! Or if the Viper manages to pull you or one of your buddies out of cover using their long tongues and binds, they're vulnerable to being hit. Don't worry about hitting the bonded person unless you're aiming for the head or the upper area. Their rifle can also launch a beam of plasma. Now for everyone's most despised one. They don't make training assets out of these so a couple of photos should do it."

Johnson then pulled out two photographs. One showed a four legged, spiked insectoid. At the end of each spike, it glowed orange and two clawed hands were attached to its abdomen giving it a somewhat humanoid look. Two mandibles also covered its mouth and above them were a pair of pupiless, orange eyes.

"This is the Chryssalid, do not get close to it and do not get hit by it. If you do, the poison it injects dissolves your tissue to feed the embryos it had also injected into you. Once you're dead, you're nothing more than a Chryssalid-baby factory!"

"That's-that's…" Velvet shook her head.

"Horrid? Disgusting? Revolting? Appalling?" Gallows commented.

"Yes. Why would they even make those...things?"

"Because they're great at clearing out refugee camps!" Johnson answered.

"Why?" Ruby asked rather regularly. At this point after hearing what kind of people ADVENT were, this wasn't surprising. Horrible, yes and she would try everything in her power to help liberate Earth and Remnant, the latter after she does the former.

"Why try breaking down a wall with a sledgehammer when you can just blow it up? It takes too much time, money, and manpower when it could be directed elsewhere. They learned that after the first few unsuccessful attempts. Now they just send the Lids in to multiply and we have to clean them up. Moving onto their other ability, burrowing. They can dig underground making it the worst proximity mine to ever exist. Thankfully, they're alone unless there's support around. Their armor also makes them more durable than any other alien we have yet to come across, discounting the Codex and Riot Officer, thus when you see one rushing and jumping buildings to come get you, blow it the fuck up otherwise you might just become a host for its babies."

Ruby and Velvet shuddered at the thought of becoming a host.

"Next up is the Codex," Johnson show the next photo. This alien was by far the most human in shape. However, Ruby moved her head a bit closer. It looked as though its golden body was constantly flickering, like it was phasing in and out of reality. The 'Codex' also appeared like a woman, even sporting a small set of breasts. Two glowing white eyes pierced through a black smoke rising out of its head.

"The Codex is the toughest, being immune to fire and poison though not to bullets or shrapnel, but damaging it causes it to teleport out of combat and split into two. While this seems to make them more frail, dealing with three or four means you're doomed unless you have the appropriate firepower so it is preferable to kill it in a single go. It can also create a vortex of some sort causing a malfunction in any gun. Melee weapons are unaffected. In order to resolve the malfunction, just reload and get the hell out before it closes in. The last poor son of a bitch that was stuck in there, was vaporized or teleported. Nothing left. You have a few minutes though before it does close. And now finally, we have the Riot Officer."

Johnson held a new figure. Like the ADVENT troopers before it, the Riot Officer was clad in heavy black armor. Unlike the others, it had a shield strapped to its left arm and in the right hand was a SMG. Beneath the glass visor, a black face mask concealed its face.

"The ADVENT Riot Officer is similar to the others, but it takes an active role in controlling riots that happen from time to time. If you were deployed to a rioting city, expect to see them. Heavy armor slows them down, but they can take Hell and give it! They use their shields to block bullets and advance or can slam it into the ground for mobile cover. They also have stun or flashbang grenades to disorient and electric batons for non-lethal beatings. If you see one, don't be afraid of turning them into ground meat with explosives. That's all of the aliens we have met so far. You'll learn more in the following weeks. The next thing we have to do is test your physical capabilities."

"This'll be easy!" Ruby grinned.

"Without your fancy powers," Johnson grinned back.

"NOOO!"

 **A/N:**

 **Betaread and edited by: friggingnope**

 **Well it's been awhile and now I'm back! The issues did lighten up so I had time to work on this and post it earlier than anticipated. Oh, and another thing. There are a few changes you should be aware of now.**

 **First is that I'm no longer sticking to a schedule. Trying to meet a deadline is causing problems so updates are going to be random. However, I'll try to edit the status of each story I have ongoing as often as possible so check out my profile once in awhile to see if there's any changes.**

 **The last thing is that I have a new story idea and I gotta write it before anyone else can claim it.**

 **No, I am not giving this out.**

 **Anyways, that's all. Thanks for reading and review! It helps me see if there are any problems and motivates me to do better and work on this.**


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